As per reports, astronauts from United States, Japan and Russia have successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) after two months of delay. The astronauts travelled aboard Soyuz TMA 17M rocket.

The crew included cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, US astronaut Kjell Lindgren and Kimiya Yui of Japan. The launch was two months late from its scheduled date, due to the failure of a Russian rocket during an unmanned resupply mission.

The launch and the docking were successful even though one solar array, a type of power supply that captures energy from the sun, could not be deployed on time.

Both Russian and US space officials said in a statement that the mishap did not affect the rocket's flight because the other solar arrays were still operating.

A Russian television broadcast showed footage of a beaming crew next to Russia's Gennady Padalka and Mikhail Kornienko, as well as Scott Kelly of NASA, who welcomed the new crew on board the orbiting lab.

The spacecraft was launched on schedule from Russian-leased Baikonur in the barren Kazakh steppe at 2102 GMT, and after a fly-around at around 350 metres (1,150 feet), the rocket manoeuvred to dock with the ISS at 0246 GMT.

Russian space officials stated that the launch had been smooth. They also told that the third stage of the Soyuz rocket separated on time but pointed to a possible problem with solar panels.

The new crew will spend 163 days in space, with NASA's Lindgren, 42, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Yui, 45, making their maiden space voyages.

In addition, for the official poster of the ISS Expedition 45, the astronauts posed wearing brown Jedi robes and clutching light sabres.