Stay tuned in to our local news coverage: Listen to 90.7 WMFE on your FM or HD radio, the WMFE mobile app or your smart speaker — say “Alexa, play NPR” and you’ll be connected.

A trio of astronauts arrived at the International Space Station Tuesday, six hours after blasting off from earth.

The Russian capsule orbited the Earth four times before meeting up with the International Space Station and it was no ordinary docking.

A radar system that assists the crew in joining the ISS failed, forcing Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko to manually pilot the capsule.

Along with Malenchenko is American Astronaut Tim Kopra and British astronaut Tim Peak. Peak is the UK’s first astronaut on board the station.

The trio join three other astronauts, including American Scott Kelly. He’s spending a year in space to help NASA plan for long-duration missions in the future – like one to Mars.