Apr 7 2007
From The Space Library
TMA-10 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 17:31 (UT), carrying Expedition 1 Commander Fyodor N. Yurchikhi and Flight Engineer Oleg V. Kotov, as well as Charles Simonyi, who had paid US$25 million to travel to the ISS as a tourist. After joining Microsoft Corporation in 1981, Simonyi had led the development of the computer software programs Word and Excel, but he had since left Microsoft to start International Software Corporation of Bellevue, Washington. Simonyi planned to participate in several medical and engineering experiments during his 11-day visit to the ISS and to update the blog for his student-oriented Web site, www.charlesinspace.com, among other educational activities. Simonyi remarked that his one goal was to educate students about the science of space travel. The Russian space agency Roskosmos had scheduled Simonyi to return to Earth on 20 April, with Expedition 14 Commander Michael E. Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail V. Tyurin. Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin had been aboard the ISS since September 2006. Flight Engineer Sunita L. Williams, who had served with Expedition 14 since December 2006, would remain aboard the ISS as a member of Expedition 1 until later in 2007.
NASA, “International Space Station Status Report SS07-18,” 7 April 2007, http://www.nasa.gov/homehqnews/2007/apr/HQ_SS0718_station_status.html (accessed 16 February 2010); Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 642, 1 May 2007, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx642.html (accessed March 1, 2010); Marc Carreau, “5th Space Tourist Goes into Orbit on $25 Million Ticket,” Houston Chronicle, 8 April 2007; Scott Gutierrez, “Developer of Word on Way to Space Station,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA), 9 April 2007.
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