A $20 Million Space Journey

American billionaire and physicist Gregory Olsen (below), who paid $20 million (about 20 billion won) for an eight-day space journey, is waving his hand before boarding the Russian spacecraft Soyuz-TMS. Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev (above) and American astronaut William McArthur are also seen.

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying them was launched at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan October 1, and after 10 minutes, it reached its orbital position around the Earth. The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on October 3.