It's a full house again at the International Space Station. A Russian capsule carrying three astronauts from three countries has just docked at the orbiting lab. The rendezvous unfolded smoothly, despite a minor thruster problem with the Soyuz.

Expedition 28 Flight Engineers (L-R) Mike Fossum, Sergei Volkov and Japan Aerospace Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa emerge from the hatch of their Soyuz spacecraft after the hatches opened to the International Space Station in this image from NASA TV June 9, 2011. [Xinhua]

The two craft connected nearly 220 miles above the Atlantic, just to the northeast of Rio de Janeiro. The linkup ends a two-day trip for the Soyuz spacecraft that launched from Kazakhstan. The three new residents join three others already on board the International Space Station, all of whom will be part of history when NASA conducts its final shuttle mission next month.

The space shuttle Atlantis is set to deliver one last shuttle load of supplies to the space station, with liftoff scheduled for July 8. The mission will mark the end of 30 years of NASA space shuttle flights.

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