Some men like fast cars and jets.
And then there’s Charles Simonyi. The Microsoft pioneer is ponying up $30 million to become the first private citizen to blast into lunar orbit for a second time.
Vienna, Va.-based Space Adventures announced Tuesday that Simonyi, 60, will be its first repeat customer since the company began organizing space missions for paying customers in 2001.
“Having a repeat orbital client demonstrates to the world that participating in a space mission is truly a magnificent and awe-inspiring experience,” Eric Anderson, president and chief executive of Space Adventures, said in a statement.
Apparently, there is a market to be tapped of billionaires willing to fork over millions for the opportunity to orbit the moon.
Space Adventure’s sixth customer, Richard Garriott, son of former NASA scientist-astronaut Owen Garriott, is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station Oct. 12. If all goes as plannned, Garriott, a computer game developer, will be greeted there by Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, himself the son of veteran space explorer, Alexander Volkov.
Garriott is paying about $30 million for his flight, during which he plans to perform experiments as part of commercial agreements with private firms, including ExtremoZyme Inc., founded by his father.
For his part, Simonyi paid between $20 and $25 million for his flight to the International Space Station in April, 2007. The software engineer reportedly trained for six months before that 13-day journey.
Going into space was a lifelong dream, Simonyi said then, noting he had represented Hungary as a junior astronaut during a trip to Moscow at age 13.
After leaving Hungary as a teenager, Simonyi moved to California in 1968 and got a doctorate in computer science from Stanford University. He was hired by Bill Gates in the early days of Microsoft, helping to develop the programs that became known as Microsoft Office before leaving in 2002 to found his own company, Intentional Software Corporation.
Simonyi detailed his 2007 space flight on his website, charlesinspace.com, answering hundreds of questions. He described floating in space as pleasant, but said that by the end of 13 days, he craved a shower and a beer.
His return to lunar orbit is slated for early 2009.
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2 Comments
#1. Just Wondering 10.02.2008
Just wondering why you say “returning to LUNAR orbit”???
#2. Carol Eisenberg 10.02.2008
It looked as if the participants in Space Adventures orbit the moon from this description of the flights: thttp://www.spaceadventures.com/uploads/File/FAQ_Final_11.10.pdf
But I see there are different options - and that that is only the most expensive one.
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