Final cargo items including some time-critical experiment payloads for the Russian segment of the space station were loaded into the Soyuz at the launch pad.

The Russian segment consisted of a pre-recorded sketch followed by a musical anthem performed on-stage.

Earlier in the day, flight controllers in Moscow issued commands to restart some systems in the Russian segment of the space station.

There are two in the Russian segment and four in the US segment.

The Russian segment of the Internet was evolving very fast.

In 2013 the European Robotic Arm will be launched and attached to the Russian segment.

It provides control, naviagtion, mission management and failure management for the Russian segment and is installed on the module Zvezda.

Program officials say the Russian segment, which must be in place before more parts are added to the station, is ready and set to be launched in July.

During the crews morning, a smoke alarm sounded in the Russian segment of the station, which prompted the joint crew to move into emergency procedures.

At present, 80pc of texts travelling in the Russian segment of the internet are pirated.