International Space Station gets new tenants

An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have moved into the International Space Station for a four-month stay.

For the first time in five months, an American is in charge again at space station Alpha.

Nasa and the Russian Space Agency are taking turns providing the commander.

Mission Control extended a warm welcome to astronaut Frank Culbertson, replacing cosmonaut Yuri Usachev as skipper, saying: "We're thrilled to be here. We will take very good care of it."

Culbertson helped attach a moving van to his new home that contained food, clothes, a sleeping bunk and science experiments. It is his first official duty at the orbiting outpost.

He drove the switches that locked the Italian cargo carrier, named Leonardo, onto the space station.

The carrier was lifted from space shuttle Discovery's cargo bay by robot-arm operator Patrick Forrester.

Once emptied, Leonardo will be loaded with rubbish, removed from the space station and returned to Earth for another flight.

The module last flew in March, when it hauled up supplies for Usachev and his crewmates, Jim Voss and Susan Helms.

The three were dropped off in March for what should have been a four-month stay. But they ended up spending an extra month at the space station because of problems with the newly installed robot arm.