Space tourist blasts off for second trip
A rocket carrying a Russian-American crew and a US billionaire space tourist on his second trip blasted off for the international space station today.
The Russian rocket lifted off on schedule from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan.
Charles Simonyi, a software designer paying $35m (€35m) for his ride on the Soyuz, joined Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and American astronaut Michael Barratt in the cramped capsule, where they will sit for nearly two days before hooking up with the station, orbiting 220 miles above the Earth.
Minutes after blast-off, TV cameras from inside the Soyuz showed Padalka and Barratt waving for the camera and giving the thumbs-up OK sign.
At viewing stands a few hundred yards away, scores of officials, reporters and relatives watched the launch, including Mr Simonyi’s 28-year-old wife Lisa Persdotter.
“I’m very, very happy. It was very, very smooth,” she said afterward.
Also watching was Paul Allen, a co-founder of software giant Microsoft , where Mr Simonyi worked for many years.
“It’s fantastic to see a launch, but when it’s one of your friends, it’s just something so special.,” he said.
Asked if he would be interested in going to space sometime he said he would consider it; not on the Russian capsules or US shuttles, but on one of his own craft. In 2004 he used his Microsoft fortunes to finance SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 became the first private, manned craft to reach space.
