Space tourism has become a reality. For billionaires, anyway:
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan - A Russian rocket carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word blasted off late Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome en route to the international space station.
The Soyuz rocket, which also carried two cosmonauts, roared into overcast nighttime skies over the bleak Kazakh steppes, bathing the launch pad and dozens of officials and well-wishers a mile away in a glow of flame as it rose vertically then turned downrange.Charles Simonyi, a 58-year-old Hungarian-born software programmer, paid more than $20 million for a 13-day trip to the orbiting station. He is the fifth paying space tourist to make the trip.
"I think for Charles it is a dream come true," said Victoria Scott, a friend of Simonyi's who watched the blastoff.
Martha Stewart, who has been linked romantically to Simonyi, spent the final hours before the launch taking a stroll aboard another mode of transport commonly seen around the gritty Baikonur space port in the barren steppes of Kazakhstan — a camel. . . . .
Stewart chose the menu for a gourmet meal that Simonyi will be taking to the station as a treat for his comrades in space. They plan a feast on Thursday, celebrated as Cosmonauts' Day in Russia after Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on that day in 1961.
The menu includes quail roasted in Madiran wine, duck breast confit with capers, shredded chicken parmentier, apple fondant pieces, rice pudding with candied fruit, and semolina cake with dried apricots.
Do you realize how lucky we are to witness the dawning of the age of routine space travel? Unlike 95% of what you read and hear every day, this will still matter 100 years from now.
Me, I'm just waiting for the price of a ticket to come down.
A lot.
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