Space tourist oral histories

“Very Stunning, Very Space, and Very Cool”, Technology Review, Jan/Feb 2009. An oral history of the launch of space tourism.

Ansari: I didn’t let them see it. I thought, “Oh my God, they will think I’m stupid. I have my vomit floating around the cabin.” I managed to grab a bag before it got too bad. I just had a little bit of it floating around. The good thing about it is it’s floating, so you can catch it. I was able to catch it with a napkin and put it in the bag before they all could see it.

[…]

Simonyi: The final checkout is in a doctor’s office, with a medical team of three or four doctors. It’s the most junior one who gives you the enema.

Garriott: The thing is to try to make sure you don’t need to use the rest room on board the Soyuz.

Olsen: Here’s the reason: on the Soyuz capsule, there’s a ­facility for a bowel movement, but you really don’t want to make a bowel movement on it. Imagine using a teapot to make a bowel movement. All right?

And similar “delightful” anecdotes! These are laypersons’ views of space travel, rather than those of professional astronauts and cosmonauts, so are of particular interest to the general public.

“Russia: No more space tourists after 2009”, MSNBC.com, 21/1. Russian Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said there won’t be any more room for space tourists when the ISS crew expands from 3 to 6. The last commercial flight is to be made by Charles Simonyi (again!); he previously went up on Soyuz TMA-10 in April 2007.