Space Tourist arrives at International Space Station

Space Adventures’ client Richard Garriott and his crew have successfully arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) after launching onboard the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 12 October.

The spacecraft docked to the ISS at 4:38 a.m. (EDT) with Garriott and Expedition 18 crewmembers NASA astronaut Mike Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov. They were greeted at 6:00 a.m. (EDT) by the Expedition 17 crew, which includes Russian cosmonauts Sergei Volkov, Oleg Kononenko and NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, when the hatch to the space station opened.

In preparation for his spaceflight, Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, completed a training program at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center located in Star City, Russia. This historic mission marks Garriott as the world’s 1st second-generation astronaut and the first time a Space Adventures’ mission will incorporate commercial activity aboard the ISS, to include educational outreach, scientific and environmental research.

Garriott will share his experiences through his website, www.richardinspace.com. The site’s “Tracking The Mission” section will feature live and playback video from NASA TV and Garriott will also be responding to questions posed on his site via audio recordings, direct from space.

Garriott will complete more than 170 orbits of the Earth before returning home with Expedition 17 crewmembers Volkov and Kononenko on October 24.

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