This story was updated at 10:13 a.m. EDT.
Two new crewmembers and a space tourist arrived at the
International Space Station Friday.
NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, Russian cosmonaut Maxim
Suraev, and Canadian space tourist Guy
Laliberte docked at the orbital outpost at 4:35 a.m. EDT (0835 GMT).
Williams and Suraev are beginning a six-month tour of duty on
the
station as Expedition 21 and Expedition 22 crewmembers. Laliberte, a
billionaire acrobat who founded the world-famous Cirque du Soleil circus
troupe, paid about $35 million to the Russian Federal Space Agency for his 12-day
space jaunt.
The trio lifted
off on the Russian-built Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft Wednesday from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Upon arrival at the International Space Station (ISS), crews
aboard both the Soyuz and the station began working to seal the link between
their vehicles, and opened the hatches at 6:57 a.m. EDT (1057 GMT). The new
arrivals join current station commander Gennady Padalka, a cosmonaut, along
with Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert
Thirsk, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, and NASA astronauts Nicole Stott and
Michael Barratt.
"Everything was wonderful, we made it here all
right," Suraev, the Soyuz commander radioed down upon entering the
station. "The crew has pretty much adapted already. I can't even report
any issues at all."
The three new arrivals greeted the station crew with hugs
and smiles, and then got to say hello to family and officials gathered on the
ground at Russia's Mission Control Center near Moscow.
"We had a great trip up here and we're happy to be
onboard in good company," Williams said.
Laliberte said he felt "pretty good" for his first
time in space, and Suraev gave him a glowing review, saying, "He did
great. His tolerance for weightlessness was absolutely perfect. Five on a scale
from one to five."
The Soyuz-TMA-16's arrival also marks a first:
"This is the first time in history when we have three
Soyuzes docked to the station at one time," Padalka said.
Mission for water
Laliberte is devoting his space journey to campaigning for
water conservation issues. He founded the non-profit ONE DROP foundation to
advocate for the cause, and plans a massive space
performance for Oct. 9 to spread the word about the importance of global
access to clean water.
"When I founded ONE DROP, it was (or rather, it still
is) desperately urgent to do something to protect water," Laliberte wrote
before launch on his blog at OneDrop.org. "ONE DROP is already acting in
practical terms, but in the project of going into space, I saw an innovative
opportunity, reflecting the image of Cirque du Soleil and my own image,
too."
The performance will feature Laliberte reading a poem from
space, while artists and personalities in 14 cities around the world will contribute
through a simultaneous webcast. People including Al Gore, Shakira, U2 and Peter
Gabriel will participate in the event, the first artistic performance from
space.
In addition to activism, Laliberte plans to have some fun
clowning around in space as well - he has threatened to tickle his crewmates
and play practical jokes while on the space station.
"Of course, it is thanks to my own financial situation
that I have been able to experience such an adventure," he wrote.
"And yes, I am also making a personal dream come true through this
mission."
He is the seventh paying tourist to fly to space on trips
booked by the U.S. firm Space Adventures.
"I'm very excited about this journey I'm undertaking
and everyone I'm meeting through it," he wrote. "This is both a
personal challenge, as everything I'm experiencing here is new to me, and a
grand project that will benefit my ONE DROP Foundation as well as Cirque du
Soleil."
Crowded station
The new space station Expedition
21 mission is set to begin Oct. 9 during a change-of-command ceremony that
will install DeWinne as the new station commander. The mission is only the
second station increment with a six-person crew, doubled from the previous crew
complement of three.
The more crowded station is also an increasingly-large one:
The orbiting laboratory is almost completely assembled and is about twice the
size it was when Williams last visited in 2006 as an Expedition 13 flight
engineer. But simply building the station does not end its mission, he said.
"When we complete it, we need to utilize it,"
Williams said in a preflight interview. "My hope is that we get the full
utilization out of this magnificent technical accomplishment."
Williams is set to serve as a flight engineer on Expedition
21. Then in December he will take over as commander of the new Expedition 22.
His crewmate Suraev is a rookie spaceflyer and will take up the post of flight
engineer for both Expedition 21 and Expedition 22.
The new crewmembers are in for a busy mission full of
scientific research and station maintenance. During their stay they will host two
visiting space shuttle missions, one more Soyuz flight, and a handful of
unmanned cargo craft arrivals. Among the new supplies and equipment to be
delivered on these flights is a new node module named Tranquility, which will
include a panoramic window called the Cupola.
The expedition will also include a spacewalk, or
extravehicular activity (EVA) in NASA parlance, in which Suraev will take part.
"I do have just one EVA during my mission," he
said in a preflight interview. "On the personal side, I'm really looking
forward to the EVA. And as a professional, I really want to not make mistakes
during my flight."
Guy Laliberte is chronicling his Poetic Social Mission using
Twitter ("ONEDROPdotorg"), Facebook and the Web site: OneDrop.org.
SPACE.com is providing full coverage of the launch of
Laliberte and the Expedition 21 crew with Staff Writer Clara Moskowitz in New
York. Click here for mission updates
and live mission coverage.
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