Space tourist Charles Simonyi of the U.S waves after a news conference at the Baikonur cosmodrome April 6, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    MOSCOW, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A Russian Soyuz spaceship is set to blast off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Saturday evening to send two cosmonauts and the fifth space tourist to the International Space Station (ISS).

    Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, the 15th crew for the ISS, with the U.S. tourist Charles Simonyi will man the vessel that is scheduled to be launched at 9:31 p.m. Moscow time (1731 GMT).

    The 58-year-aged Simonyi will stay in orbit for 12 days, and then return with the 14th ISS resident crew Mikhail Tyurin and Michael Lopez-Alegria. The trip reportedly cost Simonyi 25 million U.S. dollars.

    Sunita Williams, an astronaut from the United States, who has been working on the ISS since December 2006, will stay and assist her Russian colleagues.

    Born in Hungary, Simonyi later moved to the United States and became the key software developer behind Microsoft Word and Excel. H e runs his own company now.

    During the trip, Simonyi will carry out a series of experiments, such as measuring radiation levels and studying biological organisms inside the lab.

    He will also have a feast with the ISS crew to celebrate Russia's Cosmonauts' Day on April 12. Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on that day in 1961.

    The Soyuz will dock with the ISS at 11:12 p.m. Moscow time (1912 GMT) on April 9.

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