Launching to ISS

Baikonur, October 01, 2009 (Khabar) - On September 30, a new long-term expedition set off for the International Space Station. At 9:14 am Astana time, the Soyuz FG blasted off from the Baikonur launch pad to put a manned Soyuz TMA 16 space craft into orbit. The 3-strong crew is made up of the commander and onboard engineer of the ISS, Russian astronaut Maksim Surayev, NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Canadian space tourist Guy Laliberte. It was also reported that the founder of Cirque du Soleil paid around 35 million US dollars for his trip to space. He said that the main aim of his flight is to draw people’s attention to the clean water shortage on the Earth. Meanwhile, American Jeffrey Williams and Russian Maksim Surayev are set to spend 6 months on the International Space Station. The 7th space tourist is to be back on earth on October 11 alongside Gennadiy Padalka and Michael Barratt both of who have been on the ISS since March.