Space Tourist Had a Blast
Oct. 16, 2005 — -- Greg Olsen, the third civilian ever to go up in space, has returned from his trip after completing 100 orbits around the earth.
He paid $20 million to Space Adventures, the company that organized his trip, for what he called "the experience of a lifetime."
"Just to float in the air is such a great experience," said Olsen. "I'm still literally on cloud nine about it."
Olsen spent about a week on the International Space Station, which is about size of four tractor-trailers. He said he never got bored or felt claustrophobic.
"Every day, I would just sort of sail up and down the station, and I got better at it each day," he said. "One of the things you learn to do is to disregard up and down, left and right. As I would float down the station, I would rotate 90 degrees and change the ceiling to the right side and so forth. It took me four or five days to get oriented."
"I just loved zooming up and down," he added.
The zero gravity caused Olsen to lose his camera.
"In a weightless environment, you can't have a normal desk, everything floats around," he said. "I had my little mini-camera and it floated out of my pocket."
Olsen also enjoyed an amazing view of the Earth.
"The first thing that strikes you is how blue the Earth is," he said. "Then you realize you're looking at the same sky we look at on Earth, when you're looking up."
"The other thing is how small the Earth is, and how thin the atmosphere is," he added. "It's just 10 miles thick. You see how fragile the Earth is and how small it is."
Olsen, a multimillionaire who sold his company, Sensors Unlimited Inc., last month for $60 million, said he believes one day space travel will become more affordable.
"I think it's going to happen sooner than you think, with all these flights of suborbital being done," he said. "The price is definitely going to come down."
For those who aren't scientists and aren't millionaires, but still want to go to space, Olsen has a message.
"Don't give up. Be persistent," he said.
Olsen was supposed to go last year, but had to postpone his flight because of a minor medical problem that has since gone away.
"A year ago, I didn't think I was going to go up there," he said. "Follow your dreams, and don't give up."
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