Lord British Leaves Britannia For Outer Space

BBC News is reporting that, as of today, Richard Garriott has successfully completed his long-time dream of making it into outer space. The cost? $30 million:
Mr Garriott has paid about $30m (£15m) for his 10-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft, mounted on a three-stage rocket, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 0701 GMT (0801 BST; 0301 EDT).

Richard's father, Owen Garriott, spent 60 days on a US space station in 1973.

He took extensive photographs of the Earth's surface during his stay on the Skylab orbital outpost.

Owen, 77, will support his son from mission control in Moscow.

Richard Garriott, a 47-year-old computer game designer, is joined on the flight by US astronaut Mike Fincke, who becomes the space station's commander, and Russian flight engineer Yuri Lonchakov.

There's included footage of the Soyuz taking off, too.