RUSSIA: A Russian-US two-man crew and the world's third space tourist boarded the International Space Station safely yesterday, two days after they blasted off from the Central Asian steppe.
The new arrivals, who travelled to the orbiting station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, were US Cdr William McArthur, Russian flight engineer Valery Tokarev, and American scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen.
Russian television showed them drifting weightlessly through hatches like swimmers before greeting Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and US astronaut John Phillips, who have lived on the station since April.
"They've met up. Now they'll probably start slowly bringing cargo on board. They always bring presents, letters from family," a spokeswoman at Moscow mission control said.
Applause erupted from members of Olsen's family, and US and Russian space officials gathered at Russian Mission Control in Korolyov outside Moscow when the docking was announced. It was conducted through automatic systems.
Olsen is due to return to Earth with the outgoing crew next week, while McArthur and Tokarev are at the start of a gruelling six-month stay in orbit.
US businessman Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist in 2001, followed by South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002.
Each trip reportedly came with a $20 million (€16.8 million) price tag.
Since the 2003 Columbia disaster grounded the US shuttle fleet, the US has depended on Russian Soyuz and Progress craft to ferry its astronauts and supplies to the orbiting space station.
Discovery visited the station in July, but problems with the foam insulation on its external fuel tank cast doubt on when the shuttle will fly again. - (Reuters, AP)