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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(guó)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(guó)宇航局的一名宇航員，曾在“冷戰(zhàn)”時(shí)期登上太空。
俄羅斯“聯(lián)盟號(hào)TMA-13”載人飛船于當(dāng)?shù)貢r(shí)間下午1時(shí)零幾分從位于哈薩克斯坦大草原的拜科努爾發(fā)射場(chǎng)發(fā)射升空。
同行的還有美國(guó)宇航員邁克爾?芬克以及俄羅斯宇航員尤里?隆恰科夫。來(lái)自得克薩斯州、從事電腦游戲開發(fā)的加里奧特為此次太空游共花費(fèi)3500萬(wàn)美元。
加里奧特的父親歐文在一個(gè)觀測(cè)臺(tái)上通過(guò)一架雙眼望遠(yuǎn)鏡觀看了整個(gè)發(fā)射過(guò)程，加里奧特的女友凱莉?米勒則喜極而泣。她說(shuō)：“我真的為他高興。這是他的一個(gè)夢(mèng)想。”現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的其他人則開啟香檳慶祝飛船發(fā)射成功。
米勒說(shuō)：“我可以感覺到他很開心，就像一個(gè)孩子在糖果店里一樣。”
據(jù)指揮中心官員介紹，目前飛船已經(jīng)安全到達(dá)軌道，并將在大約兩天后與國(guó)際空間站對(duì)接。
加里奧特的父親歐文·加里奧特說(shuō)：“他終于實(shí)現(xiàn)了自己的夢(mèng)想，很了不起。”歐文曾是一名物理學(xué)家，后來(lái)憑借該背景被美國(guó)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(guó)際空間站工作人員搭乘“聯(lián)盟號(hào)”飛船的返回艙返回地球。“聯(lián)盟號(hào)”返回艙可搭載三人，曾在前兩次飛行中出現(xiàn)故障。
今年4月，“聯(lián)盟號(hào)”飛船返回艙在進(jìn)入地球大氣層之前因爆炸螺栓未能引爆，最后在偏離預(yù)定著陸點(diǎn)420公里的地方驚險(xiǎn)著陸。
去年，搭載馬拉西亞首位宇航員的“聯(lián)盟號(hào)”返回艙也因螺栓問題來(lái)了個(gè)“彈道式”著陸。
（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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