BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan), Oct 12: American millionaire Richard Garriott followed in his astronaut father’s footsteps on Sunday, blasting off aboard a Russian rocket to become the world’s sixth space tourist.

Sealed inside the Soyuz TMA-13 capsule together with a Russian cosmonaut and a US astronaut, Garriott, a renowned videogame developer, was catapulted towards the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur base in the dusty steppes of Kazakhstan at 0701 GMT.

Several hundred observers were present at the launch site and they applauded as the rocket roared into the blue skies overhead from the pad where Yury Gagarin, the world’s first man in space, was launched in 1961.

Within 10 minutes of the launch, controllers confirmed the spacecraft had entered its planned orbit. Champagne corks popped as family and friends of the crew celebrated the apparently successful start of the mission.

“I’m very happy for him,” said Garriott’s girlfriend, Kelly Miller, tears welling up in her eyes.

“It’s one of the things he always wanted to do... I feel like it’s well worth the opportunity.”

Richard’s father is former US astronaut Owen Garriott, who in 1973 spent two months aboard Skylab, the first orbiting space station.—AFP