An unstaffed Russian spacecraft is reported to have docked with the International Space Station after making the trip from Earth in record time.

A new approach manoeuvre allowed the Progress M16-M vessel to reach the space station, 350 kilometres above the Earth, after fewer orbits, taking six hours instead of the usual two-plus days.

The cargo ship took off on board a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying 2.6 tonnes of supplies, fuel, scientific equipment and gifts for the space station's crew.

It docked successfully on Thursday after four orbits round the Earth, several reports in Russian media quoted mission control as saying.

After further testing, the new approach could be used for crewed Soyuz capsules, cutting time and expense.

'If you can get the crew to orbit in six hours and onboard the International Space Station, that could be a tremendous benefit over the two-plus days it takes today,' Dan Harman, NASA's space station manager of operations and integration, told reporters last week.

The station has crew from Russia, the US and Japan.

It is also hosting two other cargo vessels, Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle-3 and Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle-3, or Edoardo Amaldi.

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Russian space craft docks in record time