MOSCOW -- The three-man Russian-Belgian team on the International Space Station (ISS) dedicated Monday to conducting scientific experiments, Russian mission control said.

"The Russian-Belgian team is well and will carry out a large series of scientific experiments," mission control spokeswoman Vera Medvedkova told AFP.

Belgian astronaut Frank de Winne and Russians Sergei Zalyotin and Yury Lonchakov reached the ISS on Friday. They are due to spend 10 days aboard the station.

De Winne, the second Belgian ever to visit space and the first on the ISS, is also set to carry out medical experiments on bacterial genetics and bone and cardiovascular diseases during his mission.

The team will also study bacteria on the ISS and micro-organisms that could be used to recycle food and waste on long space missions.

More tension than usual has surrounded the mission as the lift-off originally scheduled for October 28 was delayed after similar Soyuz rocket blew up and crashed the previous week, killing one military bystander.

The team is scheduled to end the mission on November 10.