US space tourist in 'back to the future' trip

Baikonur (Kazakhstan), Apr 5: Going into space is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and for US space tourist Charles Simonyi it's also a ''back to the future'' adventure.

Hungarian-born Simonyi used a Soviet computer to learn programming decades ago and he is now preparing to lift off aboard a Soviet-era spaceship on April 7.

''The circle has closed. We are back to the future, and this is great,'' Simonyi, a founding father of Microsoft software, told reporters at the Soviet-built Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan yesterday.

''I think what's great is that now the Russian programme is more open than anything.'' Simonyi will take old paper tapes from his Soviet-built Ural-2 computer into space after keeping them to remind him of his past.

Once he had emigrated to the United States, he joined Microsoft, then a start-up company, in 1981 and made a fortune developing what became its most profitable applications.

Simonyi, 58, is due to blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) with two Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov - aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft.

Simonyi paid about 25 million dollars for the 11-day adventure and spent several months preparing for the flight, undergoing physical training and learning Russian at a Soviet-era training centre known as Star City near Moscow.

Simonyi will also take a number of books to the ISS to start a library as well as digital recordings of classical music, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Taking a walk around a Baikonur compound, Simonyi looked relaxed, laughing and joking with his fellow astronauts.

''It's going to be a good day,'' he said. ''I am looking forward to it. Everybody is happy.'' Yurchikhin added: ''The weather is good, the mood is good.'' The three later played table tennis and pool.

Simonyi, who now runs his own software company, said he would get back to his life-long devotion - computers - as soon as he got back from space.

''My dream is to make my company very, very successful,'' he said. ''I am looking forward to getting back to work.''

Reuters