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| World Home » Life Style » | Sat. Nov 22, 2008 |
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New Era of space tourist starts MIL/BBC, Oct 1, 2005. According to BBC, Fare-paying "space tourist" Gregory Olsen has blasted off on a Russian Soyuz rocket bound for the International Space Station. His rocket streaked into the clear blue sky at Kazakhstan's Baikonur launch site at 0955 local time (0355GMT). The US businessman and scientist is taking a 10-day trip to the ISS. He is the third person to holiday there. The ticket price is not yet known. It is, however, believed that the electronic sensors expert paid up to £11m ($20m). Two other people have so far taken a holiday on the station: fellow American Dennis Tito in 2001, and South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002. "I'll be most relaxed and happy after the rocket takes off," Mr Olsen said at Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome ahead of the launch. "Nowadays, everybody can fly every week. The same will be true with spaceflight - there will be more tourists after me," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. He was joined in his Soyuz capsule by Commander William McArthur from the US, and Russian Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, who make up the 12th International Space Station crew. The rocket entered orbit nine minutes after take-off, having shed three booster segments on schedule. They are heading to the orbiting outpost to relieve Expedition 11, Sergei Krikalev and John Phillips, who have been in space since April. "Tourist' doesn't do justice to all the work I have put in, or the work that the people at Gagarin centre put in.
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