Washington, March 21 (IANS): The International Space Station (ISS) has raised its orbit, placing it in the correct orientation for the docking of a new Soyuz spacecraft carrying crew next week.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend a year living and working aboard the space station and will launch with cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.

Kelly and Kornienko will spend a year on the space station to better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to the harsh environment of space.

Data from the expedition will be used to determine whether there are ways to further reduce the risks on future long-duration missions to an asteroid and eventually Mars.

The crew will support several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science -- research that impacts life on Earth.

The trio will become part of the station's Expedition 43 crew.