First Space Tourist To Blast Off Into Space

Five days away from his blast-off into space, Dennis Tito, set to become the first space tourist, left Moscow for the cosmodrome of Baikonur, in Kazakhstan Monday, saying he was the "happiest man in the world."

The 60-year-old businessman, who has paid the Russian space agency 20 million dollars for the privilege of making the trip, and his fellow Russian cosmonauts are to receive their final instructions before taking off on Saturday at 0737 GMT, officials at the training center near Moscow said.

Tito joins Russian cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yury Baturin on the flight that will dock with the International Space Station orbiting around the earth two days later.

"I spoke to Dennis just before he was due to leave for Baikonur and he told me felt he was the happiest man in the world," Sergei Kostenko of the U.S. firm Space Adventures told AFP.

Tito's wife, his two sons and his daughter are also due to travel to Baikonur to see off the "first space tourist," Kostenko said.

Tito is due to return to earth, landing in the desert of Kazakhstan, on May 6, a defense ministry official told AFP.