Space commuter hopes to develop civilian flights

A Soyuz spacecraft carrying Simonyi and two Russian cosmonauts is to launch tonight from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The cosmonauts, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, are to replace Russian Mikhail Tyurin and American Miguel Lopez-Alegria, who have been on the International Space Station since late September. Simonyi, Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria are to return to Earth on April 20.

Mr Simonyi, 58, who made a fortune with projects including Microsoft Word, is paying over £10 million for the trip organised by US-based Space Adventures, which has also brokered the trips of four “space tourists” before him.

“I contribute to civilian space flight by being a customer and communicating the experience to other potential clients, and we hope that the number of potential clients is going to increase greatly in the future,” Mr Simonyi told reporters at the expedition’s final news conference.