KOROLYOV, Russia (Reuters) - U.S. space tourist Dennis Tito, clearly delighted with his stay on the International Space Station, pledged on Tuesday to encourage others to follow his example and said one need not be "superhuman'' to go into space.
Tito, who has reportedly paid $20 million for his week-long journey, arrived aboard the station on Monday with two Russian cosmonauts after their Soyuz capsule docked with the complex. Television pictures showed him beaming as he floated weightlessly through the cabin of the station's Russian segment.
Tito told a news conference staged by mission control outside Moscow that he felt fine and that crew members were treating him well. He promised to do what he could to bring other enthusiasts aboard despite the prohibitive price tag.
"If I have anything to say about it, I will do my best to communicate to people how great an experience this is. One does not have to be superhuman to adapt to space,'' he said.
"It's very do-able. Unfortunately, it's very expensive at this point, but there are others who can afford this and I would like to encourage it. That's what I hope to accomplish.''
He described the flight as "everything and well beyond what I would have expected. It's time for me to help other people to achieve their dreams.''
Tito's fare-paying ride prompted a dispute between Russian space officials, keen to collect his fee, and the U.S. space agency NASA, which said the $95 billion space station was no place for an amateur with no space experience.
But Tito, wearing gray trousers and a blue tee-shirt used by Russian cosmonauts, told reporters he had already visited the U.S. sector of the station despite NASA's insistence that he be escorted when venturing into it.
"I ended up seeing the American segment probably within an hour of arriving at the station," the 60-year-old California millionaire said.
U.S. crew members James Voss and Susan Helms, he said, had ''gone out of their way to show me around, to give me some safety drills. They have done a great job.''
Russian crew members, including ISS commander Yuri Usachev as well as Yuri Baturin and Talgat Musabayev, launched aboard Soyuz with Tito at the weekend, had become "very close friends."
Easier than sailing on a rough ocean
Tito said suggestions that he would fall victim to motion sickness, as occurs with even experienced space travelers, had been exaggerated. He had felt slightly ill during his first hours aboard the station, but recovered quickly.
"My expectations originally were that things would be not that comfortable, like sailing on a rough ocean,'' he said.
"But it turned out it's very comfortable. I feel great. I have no feeling of space sickness. My face is a little puffy as are those of my crew members, because usually the adaptation causes the blood to go to your head from the rest of your body.
Russian officials dismissed U.S. objections to Tito's trip as political in nature and see it as a precedent for making up for post-Soviet shortfalls in funding.
Yuri Semyonov, president of Energiya, the Russian company that builds and flies Moscow's spaceships told reporters this week Tito would promote commercial projects. Officials said they would try to eliminate disputes over qualifications that caused friction with their U.S. partners.
The space station is jointly owned by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and European countries.
Washington is footing most of the cost, but Moscow -- with unrivalled space station experience gained from 15 years flying the Mir complex ditched in the Pacific Ocean last month -- has designed and built many of the key parts.
advertisement
