Astronauts arrive to relieve space station crew

AN American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut boarded a space station 250 miles above earth yesterday, relieving a three-man crew forced to stay an extra two months in space as a result of the US Columbia tragedy.

Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko and US flight engineer Edward Lu were greeted with hugs by their three space comrades two Americans and one Russian after crawling through a hatch into the orbiting station from their Soyuz capsule.

"Everything is fine. The craft has docked with the station. The crew are feeling fine," a Russian mission control official said from a control centre outside Moscow shortly after docking.