A new expedition to the ISS was launched from Baikonur

The crew of the 18 th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) was launched successfully on the Soyuz TMA-13 from the Baikonur launch site, RIA Novosti. The members of the crew included American astronaut Michael Fincke, Russian Yuri Lonchakov and son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriott, Richard Garriott, who went to the ISS as a space tourist.

According to Lonchakova, the crew will stay on the station six months, for which he needed about 50 experiments, including biotechnology and biophysics. As explained RIA Novosti, Garriott will also conduct experiments aboard the ISS - it will grow protein crystals.

As expected, Garriott probudet to the ISS for ten days and will return to Earth in late October, along with Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, staying in the station as members of the 17 th major expedition. The flight to the ISS an American space tourist will cost 30 million dollars.

While at the ISS visited five tourists, which the official terminology "Roscosmos" called "unprofessional space flight participants". The first traveled to the ISS an American Dennis Tito in 2001. In 2002, arrived at the station, South African Mark Shattlvort. At the ISS was also visited by Americans Gregori Olsen, Ansary Anoushe and Charles Simonyi.