3, 2, 1... Blastoff!

While driving home from work this morning I heard yet another unbelievable story on NPR. This dude is the son of an astronaut and he makes video games. He's made millions of dollars and so, in this recessed on-the-verge-of-depression economy, he finds nothing better to do with 30 million dollars than to pay the Russian Space Agency for a trip to space. I guess I'm more on the socialist end of the spectrum because I find this absolutely unbelievable. But I guess this is America, the land of opportunity, and so from hard work sometimes comes tons of money with which one may do what he pleases.

Other wealthy space visitors? Dennis Tito (Businessman- paid $20 mill), Mark Shuttleworth (Businessman- paid $20 mill), Gregory Olson (Entrepreneur Scientist- paid $20 mill), Anousheh Ansari (Businesswoman- paid $21 mill, Charles Simonyi (created Microsoft Word & Excel- paid $25 mill). And yes, Lance Bass of N'Sync wanted to fly and had it planned and was trained, but he failed to produce the $20 mill so he didn't get to.

And in case you have an extra $30 mill lying around and also wanted to do this, flights are sold out through 2009!
If you want to read more, check out Anousheh's blog on the experience.