Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

South African Space Tourist Rode Soyuz Rocket Into Orbit Early This Morning

Aired April 25, 2002 - 11:32   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It is the trip of a lifetime, costing cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth $2 million a day. The South African space tourist rode a Soyuz rocket into orbit early this morning. He and his crewmates are going to be docking at the International Space Station on Saturday. Shuttleworth admitted to being a little jittery about liftoff today. The 28-year-old who made his fortune with a garage start-up Internet business is beginning to take part in some science experiments while he is up there, so it won't be all a scenic trip.

Now, Dennis Tito was the first paying tourist in space last year, if you member that story, and we figured that since Miles O'Brien couldn't be here today, Dennis Tito will be our guest space analyst today. He joins us from Los Angeles to talk about Mark Shuttleworth's adventure.

Good morning. How are you?

DENNIS TITO: Fine, thank you.

HARRIS: Thank you very much for playing along with us. We sure do appreciate it. You're out there in L.A.

You are familiar with this mission, aren't you, the Marco Polo mission? What exactly is he going to be doing on this mission?

TITO: His mission is different than mine, in that he brought with him several scientific experiments. But other than that, he is going to be able to enjoy space, be weightless, look the at Earth. I'm sure he's going to be doing extensive photography, so it will be much the same, other than he will have those experiments.

HARRIS: What kind of experiments, do you know?

TITO: Well, there are several experiments. One involves stem cell research, and also some HIV research.

HARRIS: Now, to prepare for this kind of mission, I know you went through a lot of training for that. But you know what occurred to me is that he is 28 years old, and God bless you, you are 60 years old. Is the training that he went through exactly the same as what you went through?

TITO: I believe it is. The difference is that when I went through the training, there was a lot of controversy and uncertainty as to whether I would actually fly or not. So I had to be away from home for eight months, not being sure whether it was going to result in a flight, where he knew he was going to fly. I think that probably made it a lot easier.

HARRIS: It probably did, psychologically for him at least. Tell me then, psychologically, physically, what must he be feeling right now? He's about, I don't know, what probably seven hours or so into this mission. What does your body feel like at this particular point?

TITO: Well, he's getting used to weightlessness. After going into orbit, you spend two orbits of the earth, which is about three hours, and checking out the systems before they actually got out of their space suits. So I would suspect, by now, they are probably either asleep or getting ready to go to sleep, and they are now in the orbital module.

HARRIS: Does your body feel -- does it feel just weird? Does it feel disoriented? For those of us who have never been through it and may never get a chance go through it, I'm assuming that the first few hours have got to be I guess the biggest adjustment that your body has got to make.

TITO: No, actually not for me. I was fine for the first five, seven hours. I became a little nauseous after that, which only lasted briefly and was over in the first day. But the first seven hours were fine.

HARRIS: all right. That's interesting. I didn't know that. Well, listen, on the way out, I have to ask you, was it worth $2 million a day, man? That I have to know.

TITO: Absolutely, because ever day since then -- it's been a year -- has given me great pleasure. So it's not only the time up in space, it's the rest of your life.

HARRIS: There you go, good answer. All right, we hope to spend some more time talking with you about it in the future, too, Dennis. Thank you very much.

TITO: I'd be happy, too.

HARRIS: Dennis Tito, with us out there in our Los Angeles bureau.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com