That ain't cyberspace, that's real space!


Though I suppose that I should be considered considerably more a resident than a tourist, I can lay claim to making visits to cyberspace for more than a decade. Today, however, marks the fifth anniversary of the flight of the first space (what, when I was a kid we used to call "outer", though in this case it's definitely much more "inner" space) tourist - Dennis Tito.

A self-made multi-millionaire, Tito was once employed by NASA and has dreamed of space since he was a teenager. Being rich didn't hurt - he paid the Russian space agency an undisclosed sum in the millions of dollars for a seat on a three-person Soyuz spaceship that traveled to the then almost three year old International Space Station for some maintenance work. Other space agencies are presently opposed to space tourism (can a businessman have "the right stuff"?) but the Russians, always in need of funds, were willing to save a seat for a paying customer.

Safety considerations were what kept other space agencies from accepting Tito's offer to pay his way, but upon returning it seems Tito proved that a sixty year old businessman can successfully survive the trip - and enjoy it. I'll never be able to afford it, but I can well understand someone who has the money making a trip like this.



Go to: Are crowds really that smart?