A spacecraft carrying Japanese astronaut Onishi Takuya and three other crewmembers has successfully docked with the International Space Station.



The Crew Dragon docked at around 4 a.m. UTC on Sunday, about 29 hours after the rocket carrying the craft lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.



Onishi and others entered the ISS about 5:40 a.m. after its hatch was opened. They will be staying there for about half a year.



Onishi, making his second long-term stay at the station, spoke both in English and Japanese in a ceremony held after their arrival.



In Japanese, he thanked the people of Japan for their support, saying he was able to come back to the space station in good health.



He said he will work hard on his tasks from the next day, and asked for their continued support.



During his stay, Onishi will install a new carbon dioxide removal system developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on the ISS's Kibo laboratory module, and conduct experiments to prepare for future manned space exploration.



He will take over command of the ISS, the third Japanese to assume the role, following Wakata Koichi and Hoshide Akihiko.