The First Tour To Space By Multi-Millionaire Dennis Tito On Today's History, April 28, 2001
JAKARTA - On April 28, 2001, a multi-millionaire from the United States (US), Dennis Tito became the first space tourist in the world. He paid USD 20 million for the experience of seven days in space.
It's not that easy for Tito to travel in outer space. The US space agency NASA had refused to take Tito on the grounds that he was not a trained astronaut. Finally, it was Russia who facilitated the trip.
Flying into space is a lifelong dream that is almost delayed. Quoting Space.com, Tito made millions of dollars in the world of finance. Tito was an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and was a space enthusiast since he was a teenager.
"My dream is to fly into space before I die", said Tito.
"And I basically found that purpose for life around the time of Yuri Gagarin's flight".
In early 2000, Tito started working on realizing his dream. He, who was nearly 60 at the time, felt that his chances of going into space were running out.
The oldest novice space pilot at the time was NASA astronaut Deke Slayton, who first managed to orbit in 1975 at the age of 51. "So I was going over the hill, I thought 'now or never'".
In June 2000, Tito signed a deal with a company called MirCorp to drive a Soyuz to the Russian Mir space station. However, the plan failed in December 2000. At that time Russia announced that it was planning to operate an aging space station.
Undeterred, Tito immediately made another plan. He signed a contract with Space Adventures, which brokered an April 2001 flight to the International Space Station, again with Soyuz. The station was a relatively new project at the time, having just started assembly operations in November 1998.
Troubled by NASA
Russia agreed to accept a fee from Tito and offer him a seat in Soyuz. However, other partners, particularly from NASA and the Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies were not very happy.
They told the Russians that they "recommended" that Tito's mission not be carried out. NASA officials said they had no objection in principle to the presence of other people paying to orbit.
They just think Tito's training won't be enough in April, which they think is a crucial and complicated operation of the station. Tito also thought, maybe his age is also a factor in why this desire is difficult to achieve.
"If you get old, a heart attack occurs, a stroke occurs, whatever".
"And what are they going to do, transport the corpses back to Earth? That would be very embarrassing for them, and traumatic".
However, Tito continued his training. He continued his training at the Star City complex outside Moscow, where cosmonauts have been preparing for flights since Gagarin's time. Tito spent most of the time there, toiling in confusion.
"It's not easy".
"I had to be in Russia for eight months without really knowing whether I was going to fly or not".
Finally, Tito's persistence paid off. Despite NASA's objections, Tito continued to launch on April 28, 2001, becoming the 415th person to ever reach outer space.
Ten years later, in 2011 to be precise, Tito said all the drama and hardships were a part of the past that he no longer thought about. Moreover, NASA actually turned around by supporting six space tourists to fly.
"Their support is stronger than I ever dreamed or hoped for".
"So the bottom line is, I have nothing but good things to say about NASA".
Tito successfully orbited, spending about seven days on the space station before landing in Kazakhstan on May 6, 2001. His mission had a lasting impact, inspiring various investments and private space activities.
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