Shuttle Endeavour astronauts entered aboard the International Space Station on Friday, increasing its crew members to a record 13 and marking the start of an ambitious 11-day construction mission.

Endeavour landed at the international space station as the two craft soared 220 miles above the Australian coast.

The crew is very happy to welcome Endeavour's crew on board space station, said station commander Gennady Padalka.

It's a remarkable event, not only for us but for the whole space program because this is the next great stage of space station assembly. Right now, we've got together 13 people on board space station. Welcome.

After a two-day voyage, the shuttle reached the station at 1:47 p.m. EDT (1747 GMT) in a rendezvous 220 miles (350 km) over the Gulf of Carpentaria, north of Australia