US video game magnate Richard Garriott will blast off into space aboard a Russian spaceship on Sunday watched by his father, a NASA astronaut who went into space at the height of the Cold War.
Garriott, who paid $35 million for a ride to the International Space Station, will lift off aboard the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft alongside US astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov at 1:03 p.m. (0503 GMT).
Russian-born Google co-founder Sergei Brin , who has put down a $5 million deposit on a seat on a private space flight, was on hand for a send-off at the Baikonur cosmodrome attended by the trio's family and friends.
Garriott has drawn parallels between his journey, which comes at a time of diplomatic tension between Russia and the United States, with the era of his father, retired NASA astronaut Owen Garriott.
Just like then, he said, exploration was not overshadowed by politics.
"This was also true 30 years ago in my father's time with NASA that Russian cosmonauts and engineers always got along wonderfully with the U.S. representatives," he said before the blast-off. His crew members agreed.
"As far as politics in space is concerned, we know there are politics on the ground but it has not affected our crew," said Fincke.
"We are a symbol of what people can be doing working together. So we say in space there is no room for politics."
No comments:
Post a Comment