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CNN Live Today

Interview With Dennis Tito

Aired April 24, 2002 - 11:29   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK SHUTTLEWORTH, SPACE TOURIST: And I'm also not a tourist. I'll need a long holiday after this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Appropriately named space tourist Mark Shuttleworth. That is his real name. He's getting ready for the blastoff. He'll ride a Russian rocket to the International Space Station early tomorrow morning. Shuttleworth paid Russia $20 million for the trip. The 28-year-old South African Internet tycoon spent eight months training for this trip. He even learned Russian. Shuttleworth will do more than just soak up the atmosphere, he's going to get to perform some of the science experiments during his 10-day stay in orbit.

Russia's cash-strapped space program jumped at the chance to let Dennis Tito become the first paying space tourist. And he joins us from Los Angeles to help us understand what the second space tourist is about to go through today.

Mr. Tito, good morning, great to have you with us.

DENNIS TITO, FIRST SPACE TOURIST: Good morning, great to be here.

KAGAN: You must be looking at Mark Shuttleworth thinking he is about to get the ride of his life.

TITO: Absolutely. It was certainly the ride of my life.

KAGAN: Are you jealous at this point? Do you wish that could be you?

TITO: I had the experience, and I'm really happy to see him go, and I hope a lot more people will follow as well.

KAGAN: So 20 million bucks. You paid it, he's paid it, is it worth that much money?

TITO: Well for me it certainly was worth it, and it sounds for what he's doing, it's going to be worth it for him as well.

KAGAN: Did you have a chance to talk with him at all?

TITO: Yes, he actually came out and spent some time with me and visited me at my home last June.

KAGAN: And what kind of advice did you give to him?

TITO: Well just, you know, that he would have to work hard and train, and it might be a little difficult but it certainly was doable.

KAGAN: But was there one thing when you were on this mission that you said, God, I wish somebody would have told me something?

TITO: Well a minor thing and that was managing the payload -- the things that you would take with you. Because in weightlessness, everything flies around, and I would have had a lot more Velcro and compartments in my suitcase.

KAGAN: So you told him to pack more Velcro?

TITO: Right.

KAGAN: So would you have any desire to go again or you kind of feel like been there done that?

TITO: No, I would love to be in space, but it's just not something I'm going to do. I had the experience. I think it's time for other people to go and I can sit by the sidelines and cheer them on.

KAGAN: And so when you look at that, when you look at the incredible experience you had and that Mark Shuttleworth is going to be able to have now, do you get frustrated that NASA isn't giving the same opportunity to people, that you had to go to Russia to do this?

TITO: No, because I think NASA is actually moving in the right direction. They have just announced that Barbara Morgan will...

KAGAN: The teacher in space?

TITO: ... fly. Yes.

KAGAN: Right.

TITO: She was a backup for Christa McAuliffe. And even though they're not formally reinstituting the Citizen in Space program, my hope is that they will head in that direction and this is a first step.

KAGAN: And how would you explain to NASA officials the benefit that they could get out of that?

TITO: Well the benefit is to have a viewpoint of a variety of individuals, including a reporter. I would like to see, you know, someone like Miles O'Brien...

KAGAN: We're pushing for Miles to get to go. TITO: ... to fly.

KAGAN: Yes.

TITO: Yes, he's very interested in going.

KAGAN: And you, on a personal note, you say you've done this, you've made your millions, what are you up to now? What's your next adventure?

TITO: Well there's no more adventures planned. I think for now it's, you know, settling down and communicating my experience to as many people as I can and being somewhat of a poster boy for space tourism.

KAGAN: Well you're a fine poster boy indeed. Glad you got up early to talk with us this morning from Los Angeles.

Dennis Tito,...

TITO: My pleasure.

KAGAN: ... the first space tourist that got to fly with the Russians. Today it's Mark Shuttleworth's turn.

Thank you, sir, good to see you.

TITO: Thank you.

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