A Russian cosmonaut moved on Thursday a manned spacecraft from one docking port to another at the International Space Station (ISS), the Mission Control Center outside Moscow said.
Astronaut Maxim Surayev manually piloted the Soyuz TMA-16 spaceship from its usual docking port to the new Poisk research module, said Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin.
Surayev was assisted by U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams who was also aboard the Soyuz spacecraft during the 25-minute operation.
The task was intended to free up a docking port on the Russian Zvezda module and to test for the first time the performance of a docking port on the Poisk module that was launched in last November.
The docking port on the Poisk will be frequently used in the future to receive Russia's Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
Russia plans to launch four manned and six cargo supply missions to the ISS in 2010.