The 18th crew and sixth space tourist Garriott took off for the International Space Station

Richard Garriott, 47, will pay $30 million to fly into space following his father who was a NASA astronaut

09: 35 Update

This morning at 09:03 Israel time, the Soyuz TMA-13 ​​spacecraft took off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, carrying the two members of the 18th crew of the International Space Station, Michael Pinkie and Yuri Lunchkov, and the sixth space tourist, Richard Garriott. Less than ten minutes after launch, the spacecraft reached orbit and a short time later its antenna and solar collector were deployed.

The Soyuz will dock at the space station on Tuesday.

00: 00 Update

The commander of the 18th crew of the space station, Michael Pinkie from NASA and flight engineer Yuri Lunchakov from Russia will take off today (Sunday) to the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, and they will be joined by the seventh space tourist Richard Garriott. Pinky and Lonchakov will replace the two members of the current team - Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kornenko will return to Earth on October 23 after six months in space, and Garriott will also return with them.

American astronaut Gregory Chaimtoff, who arrived at the station on mission STS-124 on May 31 this year and joined the 17th crew, will become a member of the 18th crew and provide the crew members with his experience as a flight engineer.

Retired astronaut Owen Garriott is proud that his son Richard will follow in his footsteps. The younger Garriott, a software developer from Austin, Texas, will be the sixth space tourist.

"I'm glad he was able to create the opportunity for himself," Owen Garriott, 77, told news agencies. "He was particularly interested in opportunities for space flight, and I'm glad he was able to find the channel for that. Garriott, himself no longer a child - 47 years old, will pay 30 million dollars, a huge amount from his fortune, for a launch into space in an agreement between the Russian space agency and the American company Space Adventures, which has been providing space tourism services to the space station since 2001. In an interview broadcast on the English-language television station Russia Today Owen Garriott said that he appreciates the professionalism of the Russians, during the preparations for the launch.

For the young Garriot, it is the fulfillment of a childhood dream and he admitted that he felt that the dream was becoming a reality, when he received the Sokol model spacesuit that he would wear during the launch.

For information on the NASA website