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Shuttleworth
Launched to International Space Station
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A Soyuz U
successfully launched Soyuz TM-34 carrying South African tycoon Mark
Shuttleworth to
the International Space Station (ISS) from Baikonur Cosmodrome,
pad LC 1, at 06:22 UTC on April 25. Shuttleworth is reported to have paid US$20 million for his
trip.
Mark Shuttleworth
is the second paying tourist to ever visit space.
Shuttleworth's trip comes almost 1 year to the day after Dennis
Tito's ground breaking voyage to the ISS last April. With this
flight Mark Shuttleworth has become the first South African to fly in space.
The US based
space travel company Space Adventures has served  as
the intermediary agent between Shuttleworth and the Russian Aviation
and Space Agency (RASA) in organizing his space voyage. Previous
to initiating space flight contract negotiations, Shuttleworth had to successfully complete Space Adventures' Orbital
Pre-Qualification Program in Star City, Russia. As part of the
program, Shuttleworth participated in MiG-25 and MiG-29
high-altitude supersonic jet flights, zero-gravity testing,
extensive medical exams, and Soyuz simulator training.
Shuttleworth is Space Adventures' second client to fly to the
International Space Station, the first being Dennis Tito.
Although
Shuttleworth has been identified as a space tourist he maintains
that his trip is for scientific rather than entertainment
purposes. "I don't see this as a tourism gig at all. This is
the first private space program," said Shuttleworth. " I
don't like the tourism tag because it doesn't really describe what
I'm doing here." While in orbit,
Shuttleworth plans to carry out a series of scientific experiments
relevant to South Africa, including biomedical research on
HIV/AIDS.
The Soyuz crew, consisting
of commander Yuri Gidzenko, ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori and Mark
Shuttleworth, is scheduled to dock with the ISS on April 27th. The
main task of the mission will be to replace the Soyuz TM-33 rescue
vehicle with a new Soyuz TM-34 vehicle. The crew will then undock
from the ISS and return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TM-33 on May
5th.
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