Soichi Noguchi and two other astronauts arrived Wednesday at the International Space Station to begin their five-month stay, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency officials said.
The three, who took off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule Monday, entered orbit before successfully docking with the station at 7:48 a.m. Wednesday, Japan time, the officials said.
Noguchi, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and U.S. astronaut Timothy Creamer went aboard the ISS two hours later wearing Santa Claus hats and were met by two astronauts already on board, American Jeff Williams and Russian Maxim Suraev.
The five then held a video conference. Noguchi spoke with agency officials, and exchanged Christmas greetings with his wife and three daughters.
During his stay at the station scheduled to run until May, Noguchi, 44, will be involved in scientific studies making use of the space environment and will install the robotic arms on Japan's Kibo laboratory module.
He is expected to break the Japanese endurance record for a stay in orbit of 137 days, set by Koichi Wakata, 46, earlier this year.
