“Very Stunning, Very Space, and Very Cool” by Adam Fisher the Launch of Space Tourism
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ORALESSAY HISTORY “Very Stunning, Very Space, and Very Cool” By ADAM FISHER THE LAUNCH OF SPACE TOURISM n 1995, Peter Diamandis founded the X Prize Foundation, Garriott: I grew up in an astronaut household, and my right- which started a private space race by offering big money to hand next-door neighbor was Joe Engle, an astronaut. My the first group that could perform two manned suborbital left-hand neighbor was Hoot Gibson, another astronaut. I flights within two weeks. In 1998, he cofounded Space had another astronaut over the back fence, and many others IAdventures Ltd. with $250,000 in seed capital and an even more in my one-block walk around the neighborhood as a kid. So audacious idea for bringing the private sector to bear on space I grew up believing everybody went to space, because every- exploration: tourism. It took three years of negotiations with body did go to space, if you know what I mean. It was a NASA the Russian authorities, but in 2001, former NASA engineer physician who told me that my poor eyesight would prevent turned financier Dennis Tito flew to the International Space me from being selected as a NASA astronaut. While briefly Station and back in a Soyuz capsule’s third seat, next to the that made me very sad, it also made me realize that if I was commander and engineer. Tito and Space Adventures opened going to get to space, it was going to have to be through the the stars to anyone who could pay the freight. route of privatization, not the route of government. Since Tito, five have followed. First was Mark Shuttleworth, Shuttleworth: After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was fairly a young South African Internet tycoon who was a key player clear that the Russian space program was going through a bit of in the rise of secure e-commerce. The second was Greg Olsen, a financial crisis, and there were rumors that they were talking a scientist who made his fortune developing near-infrared to people about private flight. I tried getting hold of the Russian cameras. The first female space tourist, Anousheh Ansari, an consulate in Cape Town but didn’t have a lot of success. Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur (and part Garriott: I had been investing in the privatization of space since of the family that sponsored the $10 million X Prize), flew third. I first began to make money in the computer games industry. Fourth was computer scientist Charles Simonyi, the former I was one of the first investors in Space Adventures. I person- Microsoft executive responsible for Word and Excel. Finally, ally paid for the study to find out if it would be possible and there was Richard Garriott, the son of a NASA astronaut, who’s how much it would cost. When [the Russian Federal Space more famous as his alter ego, Lord British—a ruler in Ultima, Agency] came back with the price, I actually had the money the online world that he dreamed up. Space Adventures has and was prepared to go. brokered all of these trips, to a greater or lesser extent, and it Shuttleworth: We went to Moscow, primarily to meet differ- claims to have sold $200 million worth of space travel so far. ent players in the industry. The medical establishment, the Technology Review has set out to compile the first oral history military guys in Star City [site of the Gagarin Cosmonaut of space tourism. We asked each of the five travelers who came Training Center]. Dennis [Tito] hadn’t flown yet. after Tito to describe the trip. They gave hours of their time, Garriott: We began to move as if I was going to be the first REUTERS/S sitting separately for multiple interviews over a six-month civilian to fly in space. Unfortunately, that’s also when the period. Most have never met, but they all told essentially the dot-com crash occurred, and of course, being a high-tech guy, ER G E same story of blastoff, weightlessness, reëntry, and revelation. all of my assets were in high tech. I got wiped out. R I E M We’ve distilled, edited, and organized their words to create a Shuttleworth: There was no standard deal. You had to negoti- E ZOV composite story of what a space vacation is really like. ate with the folks who do the suits, the folks who do the medi- 58 ORAL HISTORY TECHNOLOGY REVIEW JANUAR Y / FEBRUARY 2009 HAPPY RETURN After 14 days in space, Charles Simonyi landed in Kazakhstan on April 21, 2007, rubber-legged. WWW .TECHNOLOGYREVIEW .COM ORAL HISTORY 59 cal, the folks who do the training, the folks who provide the SPACE SCHOOL Two months before his trip to the International Space Station, Charles Simonyi experiences zero gravity aboard a vehicle, the folks who do the in-flight monitoring, and the Russian aircraft (left). Anousheh Ansari, at the Gagarin Cosmonaut space agency as an overall body. Training Center, studies Russian ahead of her flight (right). Garriott: We really did sell my seat to Dennis Tito. I got wiped out by the dot-com crash and had to rebuild in order to find about that. Made some issues about it. Finally, they accepted my way back to space. me in the program. In April of 2004, I went into training. Olsen: It was June 18, 2003. I was sitting in Starbucks reading Simonyi: [Anderson] kind of just kind of looked at me and said, the New York Times, with a great big coffee. There was a story “Yeah, you could do it, I’m sure.” about Space Adventures. And I said, “Wow. This sounds like Ansari: I started training as a backup, not even knowing if I something I’d like to do!” would fly. Simonyi was already in line to fly. Simonyi: The way you get there is very simple. You call Space Shuttleworth: I had to build a support team in Star City. Be- Adventures. cause, again, there was nothing from Space Adventures. It was Olsen: I looked them up on the Web, and the next thing I modeled on the little offices that the European Space Agency knew, [Space Adventures CEO] Eric Anderson was at my and NASA maintain there, but on a much smaller scale. door. We hit it off immediately. In October, they took me over Simonyi: Now they’ve created this program [the Orbital Mis- to a launch in Baikonur [the Russian launch site, located in sion Explorers Circle], and you pay your money and then you Kazakhstan]. I met some of the people in the Russian Space get an option for a seat. You invest into a position in the queue, Agency. I visited Star City. I went up in a MiG-29 and really and then every time a seat comes up, you can pass or you can had the experience. That part was a freebie. It definitely whet- take it. It’s a tradable position. You can sell your option for ted my appetite. After that, I said, “Yeah, wow! I want to go.” whatever the market will take. It’s very thinly traded. I don’t Shuttleworth: Space Adventures certainly helped with introduc- think any have traded yet. That guy [Google cofounder] Sergey tions, but I get a bit irritated when they present themselves as Brin bought the first option. having facilitated everything. Shuttleworth: The sticker price at my stage was $20 million. Simonyi: I made the decision to go up very, very slowly. I actually But the actual price paid is somewhat variable. went twice to Baikonur as a normal tourist, not a space tourist. Garriott: Unfortunately, I am an insider, so I can’t really get M A Olsen: I call it a “space participant.” But call it space tourist discounts. I paid $30 million. XIMM if you want. Simonyi: The price is $35 million. It used to be $25, and now AR M Garriott: Just for the record, I hate both of those terms. I pre- it’s $35. The option price is much less. I bought an option—I ur / A fer the term “private astronaut” or “private cosmonaut,” or said, “What the heck? I might want to go again!” FP/G Shuttleworth: ETT “civilian astronaut” or “civilian cosmonaut.” It’s being streamlined now, because there have IM Y Simonyi: A The launch is amazing just in terms of the kind of access been quite a few folks who have gone through the process, G es ( that you get. We were partying next to the fully fueled rocket— and because Space Adventures has actually bought seats in S IMONYI); practically touching it. We were laughing, talking, shouting anticipation of their use, which they hadn’t done before. Ansari: E greetings to the astronauts. It’s very confidence inspiring. You Three weeks before the flight, the guy who was flying, P S know something that you can party around is not dangerous. It’s Dice-K [Daisuke Enomoto], the primary crew member, had ILON/G a little bit like going onto a movie lot to watch the actor kissing some medical problems and failed one of his medical quali- ETT the woman, and the director is saying, “Well you could be doing fications. That’s when they offered me to take his place. As IM Y A G that.” And I said, “You’ve got to be kidding.” And then Anderson you can imagine, this is not one of those opportunities that es (AN said, “No, no.