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Third Space Tourist is Set
Sgt York writes "Space Adventures announced yesterday that Gregory Olsen will be their next private space tourism client. He paid $20M to hop on a Soyuz, sometime by 2005, and go spend some time on the ISS. The cool thing is, he's not just playing tourist. He's the CEO of Sensors Unlimited, has a MS in physics, and a PhD in materials science. He's planning on using the trip to 'help inspire today's youth to dream big' and conduct a few experiments, including testing out some of his company's equipment. SA is billing him as his own 'private space program.'" There's also a space.com story.
At least he's not part of a boy band.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
Another "rock and roll" CEO. It's bad enough we have Richard Branson ballooning about as if he's a 20 year old.
He's planning on using the trip to 'help inspire today's youth to dream big' and conduct a few experiments, including testing out some of his company's equipment.
Business trip, be sure to keep the receipts. Oh, and he'll be entertaining a client for dinner when he gets to the space station, so his meal will be a write-off, too.
Hmmm... how many cents per mile is it for a space commute?
Guy: hey, baby, what's up?
....
Hot chick: get lost, loser, unless you got something interesting to say!
Guy: I'm going into space next month, gonna cost me $20 mil. I might not come back alive. Look, here's the clipping from the New York Times with my photo. So, want to come for a ride in my Porsche? I got a little time left and a lot of money to burn...
I reckon it'd be worth 2-3 months of one-nighters with exceedingly pretty but easily charmed women. In purely genetic terms, that $20m could be a pretty good investment.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
Oh come on. It could also happen so that he'll train, get on a rocket, and get blown into fine red mist... Without this article, it wouldn't be possible to link back to this on the article telling about the accident. It may seem pointless now, but so do most precautionary things...
If the $20 mil isn't getting him any action, I doubt the expensive vacation is going to help.
Guy: My penis has been in outer space. Wanna touch it?
Hot chick (while spraying mace): Eww! I thought this place had a lot of rich guys.
I wonder how much it ACTUALLY costs to send one person into space? From what I understand, the tourists are just tag alongs. In other words, the ship is going anyway. How much extra can that one person cost? $20 Mil for another 150-250 lbs? Chipping in for gas has never been this expensive. Or maybe the people that make up the prices for movie theatre food make up the prices for in flight meals on a space ship.
And I bet he'll frame that page of his income tax return!
I'd love to see the look on the face of the IRS clerk when s/he looks at that line.
1: Start from rags
2: ???
3: Go to riches
4: Go to space
5: Write book
6: Profit!
Once again, the journalistic thoroughness of the editors shines through. The question is whether they'll link to this story or the dupe Taco will post tomorrow.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Let's all pitch in and send Linus.
Suggested experiments:
Installation of XP on one box, and Linux on another. Which OS os "lighter"?
Evaluation of the safety ramifications of space travel while carrying either a stuffed penguin or a window made of stained glass. Does a towel help?
Installation of dual OS's on all mission critical ISS servers.
Upgrade of Hubble OS to Linux so it'll run on just one Gyro!
Human sciences experiment where the subject must debug an OS kernel in weightlessness while under the influence of various hallucinogenics.
If we can afford it, send strippers, a pole, and a DJ to study and facilitate the development of weightless lap dances.
/me sips his coffee and ponders a new sig...
Am I the only one who saw that and thought Thirdspace. It sounds a little dangerous to me.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
but where is my flying car!
Then a couple could publicly answer to what has long been rumored to have been secretly tested: what is a zero-gee sex like? What is a zero-gee orgasm like? Can you "do it" without pushing each other apart? Does cumming have a enough force to push a man backwards? Does zero-gee make it bigger? faster? more explosive? Do the hooters stop sagging and always point outwards? Does the Book of Tantra need several more chapters for zero-gee techniques?
It boggles the mind! You could probably raise the $40 mil from curious subscribers alone.