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US space tourist Richard Garriott gives a thumbs-up after donning his space suit at Baikonur cosmodrome October 12, 2008. [Agencies]
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US video game magnate Richard Garriott headed into space aboard a Russian rocket yesterday watched by his father, a NASA astronaut who went into space at the height of the Cold War.
The Russian Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft lifted off in clear weather from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Kazakh steppes just after 1:00 pm local time.
A video game developer from Texas, Garriott paid $35 million to fly into space alongside US astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov.
Garriott's father, Owen, watched the blast off through binoculars on an observation platform and Garriott's girlfriend, Kelly Miller, burst into tears. "I am very happy for him. It is one of the things he really wanted to do," Miller said as others opened champagne to celebrate the successful launch.
"I can see he is really enjoying it like a little kid in the candy shop," Miller said.
Space officials said the Soyuz rocket had reached orbit safely and would dock with the International Space Station (ISS) in about two days.
"He made it, he made it into orbit. It is marvellous," said Owen Garriott, a physicist who was selected as an astronaut by NASA for his scientific background. He spent 60 days in space in 1973 and another ten days in 1983.
After 10 days in space Garriott will return to Earth with the ISS's former crew aboard a Soyuz re-entry vehicle, a three-person capsule which has malfunctioned on its last two flights.
In April, a Soyuz capsule landed 420 km off course after explosive bolts failed to detonate before re-entry, sending the craft into a steep descent.
Last year, a Soyuz capsule carrying Malaysia's first astronaut also made a so-called "ballistic" landing, similarly blamed on faulty bolts.
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(Agencies)
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美國電腦游大亨理查德?加里奧特于昨日搭乘一架俄羅斯載人飛船，在父親的目送下飛赴太空。他的父親曾是美國宇航局的一名宇航員，曾在“冷戰”時期登上太空。
俄羅斯“聯盟號TMA-13”載人飛船于當地時間下午1時零幾分從位于哈薩克斯坦大草原的拜科努爾發射場發射升空。
同行的還有美國宇航員邁克爾?芬克以及俄羅斯宇航員尤里?隆恰科夫。來自得克薩斯州、從事電腦游戲開發的加里奧特為此次太空游共花費3500萬美元。
加里奧特的父親歐文在一個觀測臺上通過一架雙眼望遠鏡觀看了整個發射過程，加里奧特的女友凱莉?米勒則喜極而泣。她說：“我真的為他高興。這是他的一個夢想。”現場的其他人則開啟香檳慶祝飛船發射成功。
米勒說：“我可以感覺到他很開心，就像一個孩子在糖果店里一樣。”
據指揮中心官員介紹，目前飛船已經安全到達軌道，并將在大約兩天后與國際空間站對接。
加里奧特的父親歐文·加里奧特說：“他終于實現了自己的夢想，很了不起。”歐文曾是一名物理學家，后來憑借該背景被美國宇航局選為航天員。他曾于1973年在太空逗留60天，又于1983年在太空待了10天。
加里奧特將于10天后與同行的兩位前國際空間站工作人員搭乘“聯盟號”飛船的返回艙返回地球。“聯盟號”返回艙可搭載三人，曾在前兩次飛行中出現故障。
今年4月，“聯盟號”飛船返回艙在進入地球大氣層之前因爆炸螺栓未能引爆，最后在偏離預定著陸點420公里的地方驚險著陸。
去年，搭載馬拉西亞首位宇航員的“聯盟號”返回艙也因螺栓問題來了個“彈道式”著陸。
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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