American
billionaire and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates is eyeing the possibility of his own
orbital spaceflight, according to the next commander of the International Space
Station (ISS) and Russian news reports.
Russia's Interfax
News Agency reported Wednesday that ISS Expedition 15 commander Fyodor
Yurchikhin, a Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut, and U.S space tourist Charles
Simonyi discussed Gates' interest in orbital spaceflight from their perch
aboard the space station.
"Charles
Simonyi told us that Bill Gates plans to conquer space," Interfax quoted
Yurchikhin as saying during a Russian news conference today. "Perhaps some of
us will find himself in a company with the Microsoft head in orbit some day."
Simonyi,
58, is paying an estimated $20 million to $25 million for a 13-day trek to the
ISS under an agreement between Russia's Federal Space Agency and the
Virginia-based firm Space Adventures. He is documenting the spaceflight flight
via his personal Web site: www.charlesinspace.com.
Space
Adventures has brokered orbital flights for Simonyi and four other private
spaceflyers since 2001, and is currently the only firm to arrange ISS-bound
trips for non-professional astronauts.
Space
Adventures spokesperson Stacey Tearne told SPACE.com that the firm has
not yet been contacted by Gates about a possible orbital spaceflight, but the
company does have its next candidate in mind.
"We will be
announcing an identity of our next orbital client," Tearne said, adding the
announcement could come within the next eight weeks.
The firm
has secured seats aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft for private spaceflights in
2008 and 2009, Tearne said.
A
billionaire in his own right, the Hungary-born Simonyi is a former Microsoft
software developer and co-founder of Intentional Software Corp. He is an
experienced aircraft pilot and has harbored a lifelong interest in space exploration.
"It's
wonderful that a person first devotes himself entirely to business, making an
image, reputation and money, and then easily conquers space," Interfax
quoted Yurchikhin as saying Wednesday. "It's different for us. We first conquer
space and then think about what we'll do next."
Simonyi is
spending about 11 days aboard the ISS while Yurchikhin
and Expedition 15 flight engineer Oleg Kotov relieve the station's
Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Mikhail
Tyurin. A third Expedition 14 astronaut, NASA spaceflyer Sunita Williams, has
joined the Expedition 15 cosmonauts for at least part of their six-month
mission.
Simonyi and
the Expedition 15 crew launched towards the ISS on April 7 aboard their Soyuz
TMA-10 spacecraft and docked
at the orbital laboratory two days later. He will perform a series of
experiments for international space agencies, speak with students via HAM radio
and enjoy his time in orbit before returning to Earth with the Expedition 14 crew
on April 20.
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