The next
paying customer bound for the International Space Station (ISS) is in the final
weeks of training for the orbital trip, which is set to launch in just
over one month's time.
Technology
entrepreneur and scientist Greg Olsen is counting down the days until he steps
inside a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft and launches toward the ISS with
Expedition 12 commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev.
"Things are
going great," Olsen said Wednesday during a telephone interview. "So, fingers
crossed we'll launch on time."
Olsen and
the Expedition
12 crew are slated to ride their Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft into orbit on Sept.
30 at 11:54 p.m. EDT (0354 Oct. 1 GMT).
The head of
the Princeton, New Jersey-based Sensors Unlimited, Inc., Olsen will be the third
paying spaceflight participant to fly aboard the ISS. The $20-million
spaceflight follows successful station visits by space tourists Dennis Tito in 2001 and Mark
Shuttleworth in 2002, all of which were brokered by the Arlington, Virginia space
tourism firm Space Adventures.
"It's more
training as a crew right now," Olsen said Wednesday of his work in Star City,
Russia, where cosmonauts train for their spaceflights. "I'm honored just to be
around these guys ... they recognize I'm coming in green."
McArthur
and Tokarev will relieve the station's current crew, Expedition 11's Sergei
Krikalev and flight engineer John Phillips, who will return to Earth with Olsen
aboard their Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft on Oct. 10.
Despite
rigorous simulations and multiple hyperbolic aircraft flights to simulate weightlessness,
Olsen said the most challenging aspect of his mission preparations is not
space-related.
"Probably,
it's the Russian language for me, frankly," he said, adding that he is looking forward
to the feeling of weightlessness in orbit. "All of the astronauts and
cosmonauts tell me that it's better up there."
Olsen's road
to space has not always been smooth. The entrepreneur first announced
plans to ride a Soyuz to the ISS in 2004, though an undisclosed medical
condition prevented
him from completing cosmonaut training at Star City.
In May
2005, that condition was apparently resolved and he
was again cleared for training and resumed flight preparations in Russia. By late July, a
Russian Sokol spacesuit - for the Soyuz flight - and custom-made seat were in
the works for the U.S. scientist.
Olsen told SPACE.com
that, currently, his days are spent learning to perform as a team with the
Expedition 12 crew, unlike the first three months of training during which he
trained alone.
McArthur
and Tokarev, both veteran space flyers, and Olsen have been performing a series
of simulations to prepare for their two-day Soyuz flight to the ISS. They are
expected to leave Star City for Russia's spaceport, Baikonur Cosmodrome in
Kazakhstan, on Sept. 18.
"I have
sort of a helper role on the Soyuz," Olsen said, adding that he has trained to
operate some oxygen systems. "I don't have a lot of responsibility."
But Olsen
is still hoping to perform infrared imaging experiments during his time onboard
the ISS, as well as hold radio sessions with schoolchildren in the Princeton
area and wherever else possible. His final science program has not yet been
finalized, he said.
"I do have
a ham radio exam tomorrow and a [Soyuz] simulation," Olsen said.
Despite the
hefty price tag of his flight, Olsen said he hopes it will reinforce the view that
space belongs to everyone, and not just large government agencies.
"This is
our future," Olsen said of human spaceflight. "It's not a narrow
government thing."
The space
tourist-to-be said that while spaceflight is a risky endeavor, he is not
feeling any apprehensions about his upcoming launch, largely due to the proven
reliability of the Russian Federal Space Agency's successful Soyuz track
record.
"I'm really
impressed," Olsen said. "They don't have all the resources they need, but I
think they do a fabulous job with the Soyuz vehicle."
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