Millionaire To Fly On Orbital Tour

A millionaire from New Jersey will fly aboard a Russian spacecraft as a tourist. Gregory Olsen paid $20 million for the right to board a Soyuz space capsule and blast into Earth orbit along with cosmonauts piloting the craft.

For more information, see: Newsday story.

Comment: The willingness of tourists to spend large sums of money for the privilege of orbiting the Earth bodes well for the ability of companies such as Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which plans to fly tourists on suborbital tours using spacecraft modeled on SpaceShipOne, the private spacecraft which achieved spaceflight early last year.