With his
bags packed and his menu set, American entrepreneur Charles Simonyi is ready to
launch towards the International Space Station (ISS).
The Hungary-born
billionaire is on track to rocket towards the ISS with two Russian
cosmonauts aboard their Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft, now being primed for an April
7 liftoff at the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
"The sight
of the booster is staggering, even in its horizontal position," Simonyi wrote
this week on his mission blog at his Web site www.charlesinspace.com. "The scale is
very large, not as big as the Saturn V on display, but large nonetheless, plus
it is here and now and ready to go."
Flying in
space has been a lifelong dream for Simonyi, 58, who memorized the names of
each dog to fly in space as a child and, at age 13, represented then-Communist Hungary as a Junior Cosmonaut on a trip to Moscow. Now, the former Microsoft software developer is
an accomplished pilot with his eyes on orbital spaceflight.
"I had no
basis for what to expect and I went into this project with a lot of hope," Simonyi
told SPACE.com in a prelaunch telephone interview, adding that all his
hopes and more have been met.
Simonyi is
reportedly paying about $25 million for his 13-day flight to the ISS under an
agreement between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the Virginia-based firm
Space Adventures.
Riding
along with Simonyi are ISS Expedition 15 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight
engineer Oleg Kotov, of Russia's Federal Space Agency, who will join NASA
astronaut Sunita Williams aboard the station as the outpost's new crew.
The
Martha Stewart touch
Simonyi
will not turn up at the ISS porch empty handed. He is bringing with him a six-course
meal selected by close friend Martha Stewart and prepared by French chef Alain
Ducasse's ADF consulting center.
The meal
includes quail roasted in Madiran wine, duck breast 'confit' with capers,
shredded chicken parmentier and other gourmet specials that Simonyi intends to
share with the Expedition 14 and 15 astronauts.
"I am
really looking forward to sharing this dinner with my crewmates on the station,"
Simonyi wrote in a blog entry.
Simonyi
told SPACE.com that Stewart will be on hand to watch his launch from
Earth Saturday.
"Martha is
coming to the launch together with 50 other friends and I think she will have a
great time," Simonyi said.
Stewart called
the space station's Expedition 14 crew in January and spoke with Williams
and ISS commander Michael Lopez-Alegria during a taping of her show Martha
Stewart Living.
"Now Suni,
please take care of Charles while he's there," Stewart asked Williams during
the call. She later told USA Today that she and Simonyi were dating.
"He says he's
very organized...anything you have to clean, he's very good at it," Stewart
added.
Experiments
galore
For Simonyi,
flying in space for 13 days is more than a sightseeing tour. The space tourist plans
to perform a series of experiments for the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Hungarian Space Office.
"As
the world's fifth space tourist I think I have an obligation to assist with
space station research and to participate in experiments on behalf of international
space agencies," Simonyi has said.
For JAXA,
Simonyi will conduct a series of tests on high-definition computer cameras as
part of an ongoing evaluation of how their charged couple devices (CCDs)
degrade in space environment. He will also use a Pille dosimeter for the
Hungarian Space Office to help map the radiation
environment aboard the ISS.
"It is my
hope that through this research project, we will be one step closer to a future
human permanence in space," Simonyi said of the radiation study.
Simonyi
also expects to serve as a test subject for a series of ESA experiments aimed
at understanding how the human body adapts to spaceflight.
The
experiments cover a range of targets, including: temporary anemia astronauts experience
after spaceflights, the influence of muscle changes on lower back pain in
orbit, the effects of space radiation on ISS crewmembers and a study of the
different microbes currently living aboard the orbital lab alongside its human
inhabitants.
Simonyi
also plans to speak with students from aboard the ISS during three HAM radio
sessions, recordings of which will be posted to his Web site.
"The
hundreds of questions I've already received from children around the world on
my Web site are very mature and intelligent," Simonyi said in a statement. "It's
clear that today's young people are eager to learn about space and space
travel, and it is great!"
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