WASHINGTON —
American billionaire Charles Simonyi, a computer software executive who paid
more than $20 million to fly to the International Space Station aboard a
Russian-built Soyuz capsule in spring 2007, will train for a second Soyuz trip
to the space station in spring 2009.
Vienna,
Va.-based Space Adventures announced Tuesday that Simonyi will be the first
repeat customer since the company began organizing space missions for private
citizens in 2001.
The
company's sixth customer, Richard Garriott, son of NASA astronaut Owen
Garriott, is scheduled
to launch to the space station Oct. 12. He is paying about $30 million under
an agreement between Russia's Federal Space Agency and Space Adventures.
"Having
a repeat orbital client demonstrates to the world that participating in a space
mission is truly a magnificent and awe-inspiring experience," Eric
Anderson, president and chief executive of Space Adventures, said in a Tuesday
statement. "It is also an excellent example that the marketplace is even
larger than previously anticipated because of the potential occurrence of
clients who fly on multiple occasions."
A native of
Hungary, Simonyi trained for six months before his
13-day mission to the International Space Station in April 2007. The flight
set a world record for the longest privately paid human spaceflight. Reaching
space was a lifelong dream, he said at the time, adding that he represented
Hungary as a Junior Astronaut during a trip to Moscow at age 13.
Simonyi
detailed the mission on his Web site, charlesinspace.com. During the mission,
he answered hundreds of questions submitted to his Web site, participated in a
lower back muscle study, mapped the station's radiation environment and tested
high-definition camera components. He also collected samples of microbes living
aboard the space station for a European Space Agency experiment.
Swimming in
the weightless environment of space was extremely pleasant, though by the end
of his spaceflight Simonyi said he was missing Earthly luxuries like showers
and beer.
"You
know, every part had its highlights, and they just kept coming and
coming," Simonyi told SPACE.com
after his
first spaceflight.
While Simonyi's
paid between $20 million and $25 million for his first spaceflight, the cost of
such trips to the space station has risen to no less than
$30 million due to inflation and increasing costs in recent years, Space
Adventures officials have said.
SPACE.com
Senior Editor Tariq Malik contributed to this report from New York City.
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