MOSCOW, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- A special Russian
commission announced on Thursday the final list of the crew members for the 21st
mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
All crew members had passed their final tests before
flight with extraordinary scores on Wednesday, Russian media reported.
Russian cosmonaut Maxim Surayev and U.S. astronaut
Jeff Williams will be the main crew for the mission, while Canadian billionaire
Guy Laliberte, founder and CEO of the world-renowned acrobatic group Cirque du
Soleil, will join them as the world's seventh space tourist.
It is reported that Laliberte has spent around 50
million U.S. dollars for the trip, 15 million dollars more than his predecessor.
The mission is scheduled to leave for the ISS in the
Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft on Sept. 30.
Surayev and Williams will work at the station for six
months, while Laliberte will spend 12 days and nights there before returning to
earth together with the 19th mission aboard the SoyuzTMA-14.
Currently the ISS crew consists of two Russians, two
Americans, one Belgian and one Canadian.