Gregory Olsen to be the next Space Tourist

Dennis Tito was the first human being to visit the space as a tourist. He went to the space way back in 2001. He was followed by South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002. Now, the Russian Space Agency has announced that they have signed on the 60-year-old US businessperson and scientist Gregory Olsen to become the next individual to spend a small holiday in the most unlikely vacation spot, Space.

He is now due to visit the international space station sometime later this year. He would be traveling in the Russian space craft Soyuz and spend just over a week on the orbiting outpost. He signed on with the Russian space agency and the Space Adventures Company and the trip would cost Olsen around USD 20 million.

He has already started his mandatory training sessions at Russia’s Star City space centre near Moscow. Dr. Olsen has quite some experience working in the scientific sphere and heads the Princeton-based research firm Sensors Unlimited. In fact, his company develops high-sensitive film and photo cameras, which are used by the American Space Agency NASA.