Space tourist Richard Garriott, a video game developer from Austin, Texas, docked with the ISS (International Space Station) at 8:26 GMT (3:26 EST) aboard a Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft which launched on Sunday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He joined American astronaut Mike Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov on Expedition 18 to the outpost and will remain there for another 10 days.

Richard is the son of Owen Garriott, an American astronaut who spent 60 days in space aboard Skylab in 1973. The millionaire paid around $30 million for the expedition, following the childhood dream of being an astronaut, dream shattered by the doctors who told him he has a poor eyesight. During his trip, we hill take photos of the main continents on Earth and compare them when he gets home with the ones his father took when he was in space. Furthermore, Garriott covers some of the trip’s costs by participating in some medical experiments. When the ship docked, Owen Garriott applauded, but the three astronauts will not enter the station until the hatches will be opened.

The astronauts that came with Garriott will remain on the ISS for six months, during which they will prepare the station in order tu support six crew member from next year. Moreover, during his stay, Garriott will try to use his video game developer skills to help the crew in fixing the most pressing problem - a broken toilet. They will install a second one also.

Garriott will return to Earth on October 23 with Russian Commander Yuri Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, who have been at the station since April this year.