A welcome ceremony was held after the arrival of Axiom Mission 3 crew at the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, according to Ednews.
The seven-member station crew met the Ax-3 astronauts - Michael Lopez-Alegria, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt, and Türkiye's first-ever space traveler Alper Gezeravci.
The mission was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida at 4.49 p.m. ET Thursday (2149GMT) on a Falcon 9 rocket of private space exploration company SpaceX.
The crew, which docked at 5:42 a.m. EST (10:42 GMT), entered the ISS at 07.16 EST. The four-person team will conduct more than 30 scientific researches during their 14-day stay.
"This is an incredibly exciting time for human spaceflight with the third private mission, which is allowing many more countries to participate in the scientific research and technology development that we do onboard this orbiting laboratory," ISS commander Andreas Mogensen told the ceremony.