Astronauts' sons unite in orbit
2008-10-15 12:21
Moscow - The sons of a Russian cosmonaut
and a US astronaut met in space on Tuesday when spaceman
Sergei Volkov welcomed American Richard Garriott on board the
International Space Station.
Garriott, a computer game developer who paid $35m for
his trip to space, arrived with two crewmates on board a Soyuz
capsule, which docked with the space station two days after
blasting off from a launch-pad in Kazakhstan.
After the hatches were opened between the capsule and the
station at 0955 GMT, Volkov - whose cosmonaut father was
orbiting the earth when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 -
welcomed Garriott with a hug.
US space agency Nasa said they are first children of
previous space adventurers to meet in orbit.
Congratulations
Russian television showed Garriott smiling after taking
congratulations from friends and family, including his astronaut
father Owen, who joked with Alexander Volkov at mission control
in Moscow.
Space tourist Garriott, US astronaut Michael Fincke and
Russian cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov blasted off from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome on the Kazakh steppe on Sunday.
Fincke will serve as commander of the six-month Expedition
18 mission which will focus on preparing the station to house
six crew members on longer-duration missions.
Russian space officials brushed aside reports of problems
with a toilet at the station, saying all problems had now been
resolved and that there were several reserve systems.
After 10 days in space Garriott will return to Earth with
the ISS's outgoing crew aboard a Soyuz re-entry vehicle, a
three-person capsule which has malfunctioned on its last two
flights.
No 'ballistic' landing expected
In April, a Soyuz capsule landed 420km 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.
Russian space officials said they had done everything
possible to avoid a so-called ballistic entry when Garriott
returns to earth.
"We can say with confidence that we have done everything
that could possibly be done," Vitaly Davydov, deputy head of
Russian Space Agency RosKosmos, was quoted as saying by
Itar-Tass news agency.
Born in Cambridge, England, and raised in Texas, Garriott
says he dreamed about flying to space since childhood. He made
his fortune by creating fantasy computer games such as Ultima.