Russian capsule docks with space station

MOSCOW (AFP) - A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying US millionaire video game guru Richard Garriott docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for ground control told AFP. "The Soyuz capsule docked automatically," said the spokeswoman for the space control centre near Moscow where the docking procedure was shown on a large screen. With the completion of the docking, the astronauts from the Soyuz capsule are expected to open a hatch and enter the ISS, Russian news agencies quoted officials as saying. Apart from Garriott, who is paying 30 million dollars (22 million euros) for his 10-day journey in space, the capsule is also carrying Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov and US astronaut Michael Fincke. Garriott is the son of former US astronaut Owen Garriott, who in 1973 spent two months aboard Skylab, the first orbiting space station. On the ISS, Garriott will meet a member of the world's other space dynasty, Sergei Volkov, the son of former Soviet cosmonaut Alexander Volkov. Garriott is due to fly back on October 24, along with Volkov and another Russian cosmonaut, Oleg Kononenko.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt