-News for Thur. 25 April & Fri. 26
April 2002 Space Tourist Sleeping Well
VOA
News 26
Apr 2002 15:38 UTC

Russian space
officials say the world's second space tourist got a good night's sleep on
board the Soyuz space capsule as it headed for a Saturday docking with the
International Space Station.
The deputy head of a
medical institute that works closely with the Russian space program, Igor
Goncharov, says the two first time astronauts on the mission - South African
Mark Shuttleworth and Italian Roberto Vittori were probably worn out after a
busy first day in space.
Mr. Shuttleworth, who
made his fortune as an Internet entrepreneur, paid Russian officials $20
million for the space trip. He is the first African ever to fly into space. Mr.
Shuttleworth is scheduled to carry out several scientific experiments while on
board the space station. Mr. Vittori is an astronaut with the European Space
Agency.
The mission
commander, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko has made two previous space flights,
spending a total of nearly a year in space on board the old Soviet Mir space
station and the International Space Station. The three blasted off from the
Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan early Thursday for the 10-day
mission.
Some information
for this report provided by AP and AFP.
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