Russian capsule docks at space station
Last Updated: Saturday, March 28, 2009 | 10:25 AM ET
CBC News
A Russian space capsule carrying U.S. billionaire tourist Charles Simonyi docked at the International Space Station on Saturday, two days after blasting off from Kazakhstan.
Applause broke out among Russian and U.S. space officials and relatives of the crew after officials at Russia's mission control in Korolyov, on Moscow's outskirts, announced the hookup.
The crews of the capsule and the station were to spend around three hours checking seals and instruments before opening the air locks and meeting face-to-face.
Simonyi, 60, paid $35 million US to the Russian Federal Space Agency for his second trip into orbit. He visited the space station in 2007.
He arrived at the station for his latest mission with Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and U.S. astronaut Michael Barratt.
Simony will return to Earth on April 7 with cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and NASA astronaut Michael Fincke, leaving behind Padalka, Barratt and a Japanese astronaut who had arrived on March 17. The latest crew will remain at the station for six months.
During his time in space, Simonyi, a former Microsoft executive, plans to conduct medical and radiation experiments and chat with his family and schoolchildren via communication links.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
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