Russian Rocket Lifts Off Carrying Space Tourist
BY ANNA DOLGOV Associated Press Writer
BAIKONUR, Kazakstan
With a thunderous rumble, a Russian rocket lifted
off Saturday from the barren steppes of Central Asia bearing the first space
tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and two cosmonauts on a journey to
the international space station.
They'll have to wait to dock with the station, however, until NASA unparks the
space shuttle Endeavour to avoid a potential traffic jam.
The rocket rose into the blue skies above the Baikonur
cosmodrome, blasting out red flames, and soon disappeared above the
sunlit expanses of Kazakstan, Nine minutes later, flight controllers
announced that the craft had reached orbit. Tito's girlfriend, Dawn
Abraham, who had cheered him on during the preparations for the flight,
collapsed into tears. "It's surreal," she said. "I just
want to know if he is OK." It will be at least two days before the Soyuz spaceship reaches the space station, and possibly three if Endeavour needs to extend its stay. Computer problems aboard the station have kept Endeavour there longer than expected by preventing astronauts from wrapping up work with a critical robot arm. |
NASA overcame the computer problems Saturday, allowing the robot arm operation to be carried out. Their work helped clear the way for the shuttle to undock Sunday, which would allow the Soyuz to arrive on Monday as planned.
Docking the Soyuz while the U.S. shuttle is still
there would make the operation more difficult and potentially dangerous, and
U.S. space officials had urged Russia to postpone the flight.
The final hurdles were resolved only on the eve of the Soyuz launch. Russia had
promised to put the Soyuz in a holding position for an extra day if the shuttle
needed to stay until Monday.
"I must say that to our pint satisfaction consensus has been found,"
said Russian Aerospace Agency chief Yuri Koptev. "And maybe this flight
opens a really new page in space exploration, when not only professional
cosmonauts but also so-called amateurs will re able to travel to space."
The crew is expected to be at the station for six days before returning to
Earth. Tito's 26-year-old son, Mike, also watched the launch, awestruck.
"Wow, what an adrenalin rush," he said. 'If I had a chance, I would
definitely do this." NASA's chief Russia envoy Michael Baker, who watched the blastoff at Baikonur, said the Soyuz spaceship would dock only after the shuttle's departure. "They won't dock with shuttle there. There's no doubt about this," Baker: said. The delayed docking would present no danger to the crew, although it would use up more of the Soyuz' fuel, he said. |
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The eleventh-hour dispute over the timing of the blastoff followed a long wrangle over whether a tourist should go to the space station at all. NASA urged postponement of Tito's ride until another f1ight, insisting he didn't have enough training and could jeopardize the work of. the station's crew. But Russian officials said that Tito, a former rocket engineer who is paying up to $20 million for the trip, received the equivalent of a professional cosmonaut's training.
Source: Arizona Daily Sun, Sunday, April 29, 2001
Space tourist Tito checks in at the 'Hotel Alpha'
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