TOKYO: A US spacecraft carrying four astronauts, including Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide, on a long-term mission, docked with the International Space Station around 6:10 p.m. Saturday Japan time (9:10 a.m. GMT).

Around 8:05 p.m., the hatch opened and Hoshide, 52, and the other three moved into the ISS and reunited with Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, 56, and others, who have been on the ISS since November last year.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the U.S. state of Florida on Friday afternoon Japan time. The spacecraft and the rocket were developed by US company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX.

It is the second time for multiple Japanese astronauts to stay on the ISS at the same time. In the first such case, Noguchi and Naoko Yamazaki, 50, spent time together on the ISS in April 2010. It is the first time for Japanese astronauts on long-term missions to stay together on the space station.

This is Hoshide’s first ISS mission since 2012, when he was also on a long-term mission.

Following the arrival this time, Hoshide is set to serve as captain of the ISS, becoming the second Japanese astronaut to assume the post, after Koichi Wakata, 57, and take responsibility for the operations of the ISS and the safety of crew members.

Noguchi and other astronauts are scheduled to leave the ISS aboard a different Crew Dragon craft on Wednesday night Japan time to return to Earth.