U.S. space tourist Gregory Olsen has started training with a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut for their October 1 launch to the international space station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and U.S. astronaut William McArthur will spend six months at the station. Olsen will join them for a week long visit. He paid the Russian space agency $20-million for the space tour.

Olsen is currently preparing for the tour at the training complex in Star City, outside Moscow. He says he is looking forward to "the joy of being in space, weightlessness and so on." Olsen adds, "I still hope to bring my infrared camera on board and to share the experience with kids."

The 60-year-old is a scientist and the co-founder of a New Jersey-based infrared camera manufacturer. He is all set to become the third space tourists to visit the space station after American Dennis Tito and South African Mark Shuttleworth.

Tokarev and McArthur will replace Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and U.S. astronaut John Phillips who have been staying at the station since April.