Simonyi Arrives At the ISS After Shuttle Lands

RobGoldsmith writes in with news of the further adventures of Charles Simonyi, whose first trip to the ISS we discussed a couple of years ago. The Russian Soyuz vehicle carrying Simonyi and two others docked a day after the US space shuttle Discovery landed in Florida. "Space Adventures, Ltd. ... announced today that its orbital client Charles Simonyi and his crew successfully arrived at the International Space Station after launching on-board the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 26. The spacecraft docked to the ISS at 9:05 am (EDT) with Dr. Simonyi and Expedition 19 crew members Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and NASA astronaut Michael Barratt. They were greeted at approximately 12:30 p.m. (EDT) by the Expedition 18 crew..."

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure that the docking mechanism must be exhausted.

You go to space once, that's cool

[Anonymous Coward]

Going twice? Now you're just showing off.

Routine

[Mista2]

So now spaceflight must be routine if slashdotters think a private citizen being able to fly to space with nothing but money is no longer newsworthy 8)

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[Tubal-Cain]

a private citizen being able to fly to space with nothing but money is no longer newsworthy

I think its newsworthy. I thought that you needed to bring oxygen, too.

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[pmarini]

and I think that after being able to drink your own recycled urine in space, you could breath your own words... oh wait, there isn't any sound in vacuum...

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[Mishotaki]

a private citizen being able to fly to space with nothing but money is no longer newsworthy

I think its newsworthy. I thought that you needed to bring oxygen, too.

I'm going to space and i'm bringing...

food

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[Molochi]

I think it would be funny if being able to buy your place in the worldly heaven became known as Simonyi.

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[gparent]

I don't think it's newsworthy considering it happened before, if I recall correctly. It's no longer 'new'.

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[Alcoholist]

Wouldn't it be cool if it were routine? I wanna be able to use this line on a girl:

"I'm from Iowa, I only work in outer space."

More to come

[WindBourne]

This is hailed as the end of the tourism. I am guessing that there will be at MOST 3 year delay, and I am starting to think not even that much. The shuttle sounds like it will be extended for 1-2 years due to the ares I delay. In fact, I am guessing that the dems will extend the shuttle UNTIL SpaceX is on-line with crew capability. The shuttle will be used to rotate crews until 2012, and most likely we will plant a dragon on the ISS as a 7 person lifeboat, which will solve the issue of requiring 2 soyuz. We are about to have plenty of up cargo capability (Progress, ATV, HTV, and within another year or two, spaceX and Orbital). SpaceX will be the only down cargo. The important issue is crew. If SpaceX has a number of launches by mid-2011 (when they are suppose to have their human rated capsule ready), then I could see the shuttle being stopped and dragon taking over the western crew.

In addition, Bigelow will almost certainly run their system up once falcon 9 flies.

Tourism is about to make it BIG. It will all be for the bloody rich, but, those same ppl are not impacted on something like this.

another milestone is still waiting

[zogger]

Two private "bloody rich" business guys go up at the same time, "discuss business", then get to deduct expenses off their taxes.

Re:

[khallow]

Heh, any country that would allow that, would allow it in some more mundane setting.

Actually

[WindBourne]

I would not mind seeing us offer up a SMALL taxcut to get some folks thinking about. In fact, I would like to see us offer a small cut for anybody going up on American equipment.

Amateur Radio

[caluml]

I'm just hoping he [qrz.com] spends lots of time on the Amateur Radio on the ISS [issfanclub.com], racking up lots of contacts with eager hams on the earth. Like me.

Re:Amateur Radio

[Patch86]

If you don't think that talking with a millionaire software developer on an orbiting space station using a home-built radio transmitter is cool, you're probably reading the wrong website.

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[syousef]

If you don't think that talking with a millionaire software developer on an orbiting space station using a home-built radio transmitter is cool, you're probably reading the wrong website.

Also if you do think it's cool, you're STILL probably reading the wrong website. Slashdot ain't what it use to be.

Just face facts. You're reading the wrong website, and your mother smells like sausage, and your dog wants to bite you, and your girlfriend is just using you for the money.

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[caluml]

You're right that it's a "clear shot" through the atmosphere, only about 70 miles away. However, the ISS has a very large footprint, and so you're competing against hundreds or thousands of other amateurs in the 3000 mile footprint. Plus, you'd be talking to fucking astronauts! :) I don't know many people who can say they've spoke to people in space. I'm sure that once I manage it, I'll move on to other things - that's the good thing about Amateur Radio - there are so many different facets [calum.org] to try. At the mo

Re:

[Lumpy]

Plus, you'd be talking to fucking astronauts!

Wait what? Who will he be having sex with? and why would he be talking on the ham radio during sex
?

That would just be wierd.

Space greeting

[Anonymous Coward]

So Simony walks in, and the astronaut 1 goes "so you're the Hungarian douchebag in "Hungarian notation", eh?!"

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[Prodigy Savant]

strThatsSeriouslyFunny :)

Just remember one thing...

[JamesP]

this is the guy who invented Hungarian Notation.

Borat in Space!

[dmesg0]

Newsflash: Barrat has left Kazakhstan to do cultural learnings of the open space!

Re:

[WindBourne]

Doc, normally, I would agree with you, but not now. You are SO FAR OUT THERE.

There is no doubt that Russia has made a nice sum of money on tourism. In fact, they have been charging 25M/seat and are raising it to 50M/seat for US to buy them. I think that they are trying to rip us off on that. BUT, the tourism has started a GREAT thing. Now, it makes Bigelow/spacex/etc look great. As to the price that Russia is charging, it is what the market will bear. I say AWESOME. That price should cause CHOKING by our c

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[Doc Ruby]

It's a monopoly. Without competition, there's no "choice". Market monopolies don't require necessities for consumption to abuse their control of their market. They don't even need to be the only vendor in the market to abuse it, just domination.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[WindBourne]

Actually, the tourists are paying 25M (though Simonyi paid 30M). The American gov will be paying 50M/seat for the same thing. And I SAID that it is what the market will bear, so I like what Russia is doing. Their actions will encourage congress to not be dependant on them. Of course, Congress/NASA now have to think ahead. Many inside of Congress/NASA are opposed to getting SpaceX to the point of doing crewed dragons, which is a major mistake. Space travel WILL progress regardless if America leads or not. It

Re:

[Doc Ruby]

Subsidies mean we spent money on the ISS that Russia doesn't have to recoup in prices for vacation flights there.

Russia's home economy has all kinds of other subsidies, not least the energy costs in their huge and devastatingly abusive energy industry.

I'm all for the competition, the growth of tourism, the publicity. I don't even envy Simonyi - I wish there were many more of him, and eventually me, too once they've brought all the prices (and risks) down. I'm just annoyed that I'm subsidizing Russia's benef

Re:

[WindBourne]

Actually, Russia has done a great job of trying to get their companies (note: not their ppl) to be paid what American companies are paid. I am fine with that. SpaceX, Scaled, etc are what will bring down the obscene profits by American space companies. Russia is not the enemy on this. Instead, it is the fact that the prices that we pay for our space systems is keeping us from developing real space bases (i.e. mars, moon,etc). Russia pushing their prices up is the best thing that happened to us. If they char

Re:

[WindBourne]

Yeah, I have to agree with some of what you are saying. The liking and hatred towards obama based on his skin color is incredible. Personally, I view him as another president and HOPEFULLY, he will be a good one. Of course, I voted out the neo-cons because I hated their running up 16 years of massive debt (reagan and W), and now the liberals and obama seem to want to do the same. Time will tell.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

"The Blue Danube"?

[Anonymous Freak]

Watching the NASA TV footage of the Soyuz approaching ISS, I immediately started humming "The Blue Danube"... Anyone else?

Re:

[Thuktun]

Glad I'm not the only one.

See-Saw!

[turgid]

That must have been one heck of a see-saw if the space shuttle descending on one end was enough to get him all the way to the space station. Shall he have but a penny a day? Can he not work any faster?