A Russia Soyuz spaceship carrying two cosmonauts and an American space tourist Richard Garriott docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday. There have been so far six paying space tourists, including the first woman tourist.
In May 2001, California businessman Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist. He paid 20 million U.S. dollars, or 1,800 dollars per minute, for the 8-day trip to the ISS.
The world's second space tourist Mark Shuttle worth from South Africa soared into orbit in April 2002 onboard a Soyuz TM-34 rocketship. The 28-year-old Internet tycoon carried out numbers of experiments on the station during the 10-day mission.
U.S. millionaire Gregory Olsen started his flight to the ISS as the third space tourist, or a private science researcher as he regarded himself as, on Oct. 1, 2005. The 60-year-old chief of a New Jersey-based infrared-camera company reportedly paid 20 million U.S. dollars for the 12-day flight.
Iranian-born American Anousheh Ansari became the fourth but the first female space tourist in September 2006. Ansari, 40, who runs a telecommunications company in Texas, conducted a series of blood and muscular experiments for the European Space Agency during her eight-day stay on the station.
Charles Simonyi, the 58-year-old Hungary-born American was the fifth space tourist. He stayed in the orbit for 12 days, which reportedly cost him 25 million U.S. dollars.
Many companies has been developing in-orbit or sub-orbit commercial space travel. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has issued rules to regulate such projects though they still seems expensive for the people with average income.
