American, 2 crewmates dock with space station

MOSCOW - An American astronaut climbed aboard the international space station yesterday for a stint as its first female commander after a two-day trip from Earth and a textbook docking.

Peggy Whitson, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, and Malaysian physician Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor scooted through hatches linking the station with the Soyuz TMA-11 craft they rode into orbit from Russia's launch facility in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz docked at 10:50 a.m. EDT after catching up with the station and firing thrusters to get into position, said Valery Lyndin, chief spokesman for Russian Mission Control outside Moscow.

"Everything is great," Malenchenko told mission control shortly after the ship locked onto the station about 220 miles over Central Asia.

Whitson and her crewmates clambered through the hatches about 90 minutes later and joined the station's current crew, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, and astronaut Clayton Anderson. The newcomers traded their bulky gear for more comfortable jumpsuits and spoke to well-wishers at mission control via a video link.

"The fun is just about to begin," Yurchikhin said.

Sheikh Muszaphar, a 35-year-old orthopedic surgeon fulfilling his own dream of space travel and his country's, was already having fun.

"I feel very well," he said in Russian, grinning as his body shifted in the zero gravity. In English, he said, "I'm having a very good time here with my friends from Russia and America - and my love to all Malaysians out there."

Sheikh Muszapar will perform experiments involving diseases and the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and genes. The $25 million agreement for a Malaysian astronaut to fly to space was negotiated in 2003 along with a $900 million deal for Malaysia to buy 18 Russian fighter jets.

The ninth Muslim in space, he has said his roughly 10-day stay on the station should inspire his homeland and all Muslims.

Whitson, 47, a biochemist from Beaconsfield, Iowa, was selected as an astronaut in 1996 and spent six months on the international space station in 2002. She will assume command from Yurchikhin on Oct. 19, Lyndin said.

Whitson and Malenchenko will replace Yurchikhin and Kotov, who are slated to return to Earth along with Sheikh Muszaphar on Oct. 21 in a Soyuz capsule.