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Russia launches manned spacecraft to space station

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-26 23:09

MOSCOW - A Russian spaceship with two astronauts and one space tourist aboard blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Thursday, local media reported.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft carrying the crew of US entrepreneur Charles Simonyi, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and US astronaut Michael Barratt blasts off from the Baikonur cosmodrome March 26, 2009. [Agencies]

The Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft lifted off at 14:49 Moscow time (1149 GMT) and is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) at 16:14 Moscow time (1314 GMT) on Saturday.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, the crew of the 19th ISS expedition, will work at the ISS for six months.

Hungarian-born US businessman Charles Simonyi will spend some 12 days on the ISS and return to the Earth with the crew of the 18th mission.

The 60-year-old billionaire's second trip into space cost him around US$35 million, up from the 25 million dollars he paid for his 2007 visit.

Padalka and Barratt, along with astronauts from Japan, Canada and Europe, will double the space station's permanent crew to six by the end of May.

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