by Playfuls Staff |
10th April 2007
The world's fifth space tourist, Charles Simonyi, and Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov transferred from their Soyuz capsule to the ISS approximately 90 minutes after the successful automatic docking.[more]
Simonyi, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov joined another cosmonaut, Mikhail Tyurin, and NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams.
"How did the launch look?" Simonyi asked spectators at Mission Control, according to AP. "The launch was beautiful, Charles," his partner Martha Stewart told Simonyi. "I just want to say that we are happy for the safe and beautiful trip and I want you to know that we all think that you are a true pioneer.
"And guess what, Charles? You are now truly out of this world," she said. "Martha, it is really an honor to be here on this outpost," Simonyi said.
He has been training for six months at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia and at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Most of the training is designed to prepare him for the exhilarating eight minute ride to escape the Earth's atmosphere and his time on board the International Space Station (ISS).
He chose to take his own food to the ISS, with plenty to share with his colleagues. That's not really a surprise, considering his partner is Martha Stewart, owner of a cooking and homemaking empire.
"I am really looking forward to sharing this dinner with my crewmates on the station," Mr. Simonyi said. "Although the food is very good there, it is somewhat basic, and after a couple of weeks everything starts tasting the same. I am certain a little variation will be surely welcome."
The "little variation" will be quail roasted in Madeira wine, purée of celeriac and nutmeg, duck breast confit with capers and shredded chicken Parmentier. Dessert comprises apple fondant, rice pudding with candied fruit and semolina cake with apricots.
A special dinner for all aboard will be held on Cosmonauts' Day on April 12, the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first manned spaceflight, in 1961.
Simonyi is to return to Earth on April 20, along with Russian Mikhail Tyurin and Miguel Lopez-Alegria of the United States, both of whom have been on the station since September. Yurchikhin and Kotov are to stay six months at the station.
Hungarian-American billionaire software programmer Charles Simonyi, 58, made his fortune as a pioneer at U.S. software giant Microsoft. Mr. Simonyi was the chief software writer behind Microsoft’s Word and Excel programs. His trip has been booked by Space Adventures, a US-based company, in conjunction with the Russian space agency.
Charles also set up a blog which he will use to detail his experiences while on the ISS, www.charlesinspace.com. Dr. Simonyi will provide daily updates regarding his stellar activities on this award-winning, rich-media Web site with live video and photos from NASA, as well as footage taken and captioned by Dr. Simonyi, and audio recordings, a press release reads.
He had already filled three or four pages of a notebook "recording every moment of this flight", and said he would post his impressions on his blog.
Dr. Simonyi's site, http://www.charlesinspace.com/, was created to "further develop his three space mission objectives: to involve the world's children in the science of space travel, advance civilian spaceflight and assist in space station research."
