October 12, 2008--The Russian Soyuz TMA-13 roars off the launch pad at Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome during a successful October 12 launch.

The rocket's Expedition 18 crew boarded the International Space Station on October 14. The group includes space tourist Richard Garriott--a video game mogul who paid $30 million to follow in the footsteps of his father, NASA astronaut Owen Garriott.

After the space shuttle's 2010 retirement, NASA astronauts will use Soyuz until their next-generation American spacecraft debuts in 2014.