Space Tourist #5 + 6 (+backup)

Space tourists are paying their way to lower Earth orbit left and right. #5 on the list is Charles Simonyi, a retired Microsoft developer of Word and Excel, CEO of a private sftware development company, and current beau of American cooking/lifestyle diva, Martha Stewart. Simonyi will accompany NASA astronauts Sunita Williams, Daniel Tani, Clayton Anderson, and cosmonauts Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and fellow flight engineer Oleg Kotov on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station. ISS Expedition 15 is set for launch on April 9, just three days before Yuri Gagarin's celebrated flight in 1961.Being the tech guy, he will document his adventures on his website, where he will also encourage his colleagues to blog. (Blogging is new to the cosmonauts.)

Three private citizens are training at Star City, including Dr. Simonyi. Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie bin Sheikh Mustapha is an orthopedic doctor, a medical lecturer, and also a part time model from Malaysia who has been selected for his ISS tour in October 2007, on a Soyuz TMA-11. If Shukor flies, he will be the first angkasawan (Malaysin astronaut). His backup is Dr. Faiz Bin Khaleed, an Army dental surgeon. The angkasawans hope their spaceflight will inspire Muslims all over the planet and revive the glory days of when Islamic scholars lead the world in science and discovery. Malaysia is a small Islamic nation that has a unique blend of Indian, Chinese and Malay ethinicities in which a space program could be a unifier for the country. Making teh tarik, Malaysia's signature hot tea drink is banned by the Russian space agency. Instead the angkasawan has to perform 10 research experiments designed by 10 universities. The program is sponsored by Angkasa, the Malaysian space agency.

Previous space tourists include Dennis Tito, Mark Shutleworth, Gregory Olsen and Anousheh Ansari, all with a technology background.