American space mission commander praises space tourists

Zvezdny Gorodok, May 11 (UNI) The American commander of Expedition 14 to the International Space Station, called space tourism "a good idea" as his crew returned to the base near Moscow today.

Michael Lopez-Alegria acknowledged he changed his originally negative attitude to space tourists when he saw how two of them - Iranian-born Anousheh Ansari, a US businesswoman, and Hungarian-born Charles Simonyi, a founder of Microsoft Corp - who went to the ISS as space tourists adapted to space conditions and helped crewmembers in their work.

Lopez-Alegria, Simonyi, Russian flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin and German European astronaut Thomas Reiter shared their experiences from the mission.

Simonyi, the fifth space tourist in history, said his space-themed website had generated over 30 million visitors and added he was happy to let people learn more about the station and the Russian space industry.

The US-based Space Adventures Ltd, the only company currently providing opportunities for space tourism, charges around 20 million dollars per Russian-organized private mission.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration had previously voiced concerns about the tourists' safety and usefulness.

UNI