LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Charles Simonyi: Space
built 651 days ago
To learn about space flight, Simonyi traveled to remote Kazakhstan two years ago to see the launch of the Russian Soyuz rocket. He met retired Russian cosmonaut Yuri Usachev, who logged more than 670 days in space, and learned about his experiences.
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Simonyi [image], 58, is now set to launch towards the ISS on March 9, 2007 aboard a Russian-built Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft that will ... ferry two Expedition 15 cosmonauts to the orbital laboratory. He plans to lay down his training and flight experiences on the Internet at his website: www.charlesinspace.com.
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As a member of Expedition 15 and together with a US astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, Simonyi will spend 10 days in space, eight of them aboard the orbiting ISS. The astronaut and cosmonaut will remain aboard the space station for six months, but Simonyi will return to earth with two ISS occupants from Soyuz Expedition 14 who will have finished their long stint on the station.
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Unlike Space Adventures' last paid ISS flight, there is no back-up spaceflyer supporting Simonyi. Ansari served as the back-up for Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto. She flew in Enomoto's place after he failed a preflight medical check.
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"I'm really looking forward to speaking with students while I'm on the ISS," said Dr. Simonyi. "The hundreds of questions I've already received from children around the world on my Web site are very mature and intelligent. It's clear that today's young people are eager to learn about space and space travel, and great!
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"I consider my mission to be a small part of an important trend to make space accessible to more people," said Simonyi in a statement on his Web site. "I feel very lucky to be the world's fifth civilian space traveler."
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