International Station changes crew

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying the first Brazilian astronaut and two new members of the International Station (ISS) entered the universe on Saturday, two days after takeoff.

The ship was Brazilian test pilot - Marcos Pontes, 43 - and two new ISS members - Russian chief Pavel Vinogradov and US military colonel Jeffrey Williams.

Astronauts meet on the International Station.( Photo: AP )

Pontes will carry out a scientific program for his country's space agency before returning to Earth on April 9 with the former squadron on ISS - Valery Tokarev of Russia and NASA expert William McArthur.

Vinogradov and Williams went through a six-month mission, with a dense science program of 40 experiments.

The new squadron added the "zoo corner" to the station - a series of worms that will be used to test organisms regeneration in weightless conditions. The International Station is also home to a group of snails, used in experiments on the effects of weightlessness on behavior.

T. An