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Astronaut's son & crew heading for space station rendezvous
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Liftoff of Soyuz and Expedition 18 crew/NASA
UPDATE: Thanks to alert reader Jack Upwater, we've expanded the dialogue on "firsts" in space. He noted that Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov claimed the first second-generation space flyer title. He's the son of cosmonaut Alexander Volkov.
Firrst second-generation space fliers: the cosmonauts Volkovs.
First astronaut second-generation space fliers: Garriott, astronaut; Garriott, space tourist.
I didn't mention this in the original story because it didn't seem to fit with the generational information. But since we're now talking about records, here's one that's pretty incredible: the first twins in space.
Mark Kelly flew on STS-108, 121, and 124. Scott Kelly flew on STS-103 and 118, and is assigned as commander of the Expedition 26 mission to the space station in 2010.
The original story follows. Thanks again, Jack!
Richard Garriott, the son of astronaut Owen Garriott, and his team-mates are enroute to the International Space Station after a successful launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz spacecraft is flying Expedition 18 commander Michael Fincke, flight engineer Yury Lonchakov and Garriott to a Tuesday rendezvous with the station.
The younger Garriott is the multi-millionaire developer of Tabula Rasa and other video and computer games. He plunked down about $30 million to go through training and become a space trekker.
Garriott, the sixth space tourist sent aloft by Space Adventures ,holds a uniqe place in space history to date. Tthe son of Skylab and Spacelab astronaut Owen Garriott, Garriott is so far the only child of a professional astronaut to become a second-generation space flyer.
Here's an in-depth look at the events and goals of the Expedition 18 flight, presented by the Russian Federal Space Agency. Reminder: the times are in Russian Summer Time, so don't forget to convert them to your time zone.
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