Sons of Russia, US astronauts unite in orbit

The sons of a Russian cosmonaut and a US astronaut met in space yesterday when spaceman Sergei Volkov welcomed American Richard Garriott on board the International Space Station.

Garriott, a computer game developer who paid $35 million for his trip to space, arrived with two crewmates on board a Soyuz capsule, which docked with the space station two days after blasting off from a launch-pad in Kazakhstan.

After the hatches were opened between the capsule and the station at 9:55 GMT, Volkov, whose cosmonaut father was orbiting the earth in 1991, welcomed Garriott with a hug.