An Orthodox priest blesses U.S. space tourist Gregory Olsen, left, Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and U.S. astronaut William McArthur, right, at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005.(Xinhua/AFP photo)

The world's third "space tourist", US millionaire Gregory Olsen, successfully started his flight to the international space station (ISS) on Saturday along with a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut.

The Russian-built Soyuz TMA-7 capsule carrying the three blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the middle of Kazakhstan's barren steppes at 7:54 a.m. Moscow time (0354 GMT).

After the liftoff, the space craft will rendezvous in two days with the ISS, about 400 kilometers above Earth.

Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and US astronaut William McArthur who was riding with Olsen, will relieve Russian Sergei Krikalev and American John Phillips who have been working on the station since April.

With the help of the crew, Olsen will perform some 10 scientific experiments on the station, including crystal growth experiments in conditions of weightlessness, studies of the response of the human body in weightlessness, and measure of air humidity on Earth surface through spectrum.

Olsen, holder of advanced degrees in physics and materials science, rejected the "space tourist" label on him, preferring to see himself as a private science researcher.

"Tourist doesn't do justice to all the work I've put in, or the work that the people at the Gagarin center (outside Moscow) put in preparing us," Olsen said at a pre-flight news conference on Friday.

He defended his presence on the Russian-American expedition as a necessary step in the evolution of space flight.

"One hundred years ago, airline flight was reserved for only a few brave souls. Everyone flies nowadays," he said. "The same will be true of space flight."

The 60-year-old chief of a New Jersey-based infrared-camera company paid a reported 20 million US dollars for participating in the Expedition 12 flight in a deal brokered by Virginia-based Space Adventures Ltd.

He is the third non-astronaut to visit the station, preceded by American businessman Dennis Tito in 2001 and South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002.

On Oct. 11, Olsen, along with Krikalev and Phillips, will return to Earth, touching down in Kazakhstan.

Source: Xinhua