Space tourist returns to Earth

US MILLIONAIRE space tourist Charles Simonyi shared a kiss with his wife in the Kazakh steppe after returning safely to Earth yesterday after an unprecedented second tour in orbit.

Simonyi, who made his fortune pioneering Microsoft software, bumped back to Earth at 07.15 GMT with two professional astronauts in the Russian Soyuz capsule, a spokesman for the mission control centre said.

“According to the search group, the space capsule landed in the planned area. All of the cosmonauts are feeling normal,” a mission spokesman said in comments on Russia’s Vesti 24 television.