Google founder signs up for space trip

(CNN) -- Google co-founder Sergey Brin has paid $5 million to secure a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, officials said Wednesday.

Brin's seat will be on a future orbital space flight, Eric Anderson, CEO of Space Adventures Ltd., said at a news conference.

In a statement, Brin credits Space Adventures with helping "open the space frontier to private citizens."

Space Adventures will also host the first private space flight to the international space station in 2011, spokeswoman Stacey Tearne said.

Two seats will be available on that trip. The mission is part of a deal with the Russian Federal Space Agency (FSA).

Space Adventures launched the world's first privately funded space mission in 2001.

Its sixth customer, Richard Garriot, son of NASA astronaut Owen Garriot, is scheduled to take off in October. Garriot paid $35 million for his seat.

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