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Charles Simonyi

Cirque du Soleil founder set to blast into space

Submitted by Layer 8 on Thu, 06/04/09 - 2:41pm.

Space Adventures today said Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque du Soleil has started astronaut training for a flight to the International Space Station (ISS) on September 30, 2009.

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Esther Dyson to be next high-techie to blast into space

Submitted by Layer 8 on Tue, 10/07/08 - 10:10am.

The multi-millionaire, high-tech entrepreneurs continue to flock to space. Private space exploration company Space Adventures today said Esther Dyson, an industry guru who has been involved in all manner of technology start-ups and digital ventures, will train as a back-up crew member alongside ex-Microsoft developer Charles Simonyi, Ph.D., who recently announced his second mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in spring 2009.

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Ex-Microsoft exec signs up for second trip to outer space

Submitted by Layer 8 on Wed, 10/01/08 - 1:25am.

Ex-Microsoft software developer, astronaut and lets not forget, millionaire, Charles Simonyi, signed up today to take his second flight into space courtesy of private space explorations company, Space Adventures.

 Simonyi, who help develop Microsoft Word and Excel, will train with the Soyuz TMA-14 crew in preparation for a spring mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Simonyi last flew into space in 2007, a trip that reportedly cost him $25 million. No prices were disclosed about this flight. Dennis Tito was the world's first privately funded spaceflight participant in 2001.

Earlier this year Google co-founder Sergei Brin put down $5 million toward a flight to the international space station in 2011 also courtesy of Space Adventures.

Space Adventures last year opened for the first time the opportunity to train as a private space explorer alongside one of its orbital spaceflight candidates, and among professional astronauts.  The astronaut will be trained as a back-up to fly with famed game developer and son of former NASA astronaut, Richard Garriott, currently set to fly to the ISS this month. Computer game developer Garriott is paying at least $30 million to launch toward the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spaceship according to Space Adventures, which brokered the flight with Russia's Federal Space Agency.

Speaking about why people want to even take part on space travel, an FAA executive this summer said such adventures were akin to scaling Mount Everest.

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Bill Gates and Microsoft's most famous astronaut fund deep space telescope

Submitted by Layer 8 on Fri, 01/04/08 - 2:45pm.

Bill Gates and the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences this week donated $30 million to an ambitious telescope project that researchers say will be able to survey the entire sky every three nights - something never done before.

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Private space exploration company has an opening for an astronaut

Submitted by Layer 8 on Thu, 11/15/07 - 10:34am.

If you ever wanted to be an astronaut and you have buckets of money to spend on your dream here's your chance. Private space exploration firm Space Adventures today said for the first time the opportunity to train as a private space explorer alongside one of its orbital spaceflight candidates, and among professional astronauts, is now open to the public.

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Microsoft billionaire programmer blasts off into space Saturday

Submitted by Microsoft Subnet on Fri, 04/06/07 - 6:58pm.

Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi will this weekend be shot up into space in a flight to the International Space Station, reports AFP. Simonyi, who on his Web site describes himself as the chief architect of word and Excel at Microsoft, where he worked between 1981 and 2001, will be the world's fifth space tourist when he blasts off on Saturday.

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Billionaire ex-Microsoft developer set for space travel

Submitted by Layer 8 on Mon, 03/26/07 - 10:08am.

It's a long way from helping Microsoft write Word and Excel that's for sure. Next month, billionaire software developer Charles Simonyi, will become the fifth civilian to fly in space when he rockets to the international space station aboard a Russian Soyuz TMA-10 capsule. He will be joined by Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov and return to Earth 11 days later with the systems current orbiting crew - Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and Spanish-born U.S. astronaut Miguel Lopez-Alegria, according to reports. Simonyi is spending over $20 million for the trip.

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