ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano arrives at space station

A Soyuz spacecraft launched from Kazakhstan Tuesday night safely docked with the International Space Station Wednesday morning, delivering astronaut Luca Parmitano and his crewmates to the orbital outpost where they will live and work for five months. Parmitano is a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut flying on board the Space Staion for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) under a bilateral agreement between ASI and NASA. He was joined by Russian Soyuz commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg in the mission, said ESA in a statement. All three will be part of the Station's Expedition 36/37 crew as flight engineers. Luca is the first European flight engineer to co-pilot the Soyuz spacecraft on this fast-track approach. The new arrivals now have a week to adapt to the unique sensation of living in weightlessness, after which Luca has a very busy program during his 166 days on the outpost until his return on Nov. 10. His science program includes around 20 ESA experiments, such as medical and biological research, fluid physics, materials science and technology demonstrations. As a flight engineer, Luca will take part in docking ESA's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle, Albert Einstein, which is set for launch on June 5. He will also be closely involved in berthing other supply vessels during his mission. Further highlights of his Volare mission include two spacewalks to replace a camera mounted on Japan's Kibo laboratory and retrieve science payloads. One spacewalk will prepare for the arrival of Russia's Multipurpose Laboratory Module later this year. The new module will arrive with the ERA European Robotic Arm, the first arm able to move around the Station's exterior. Luca was the first astronaut from the 2009 class assigned to a mission.