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American Morning

Son of Dennis Tito Says Father Having "Experience of His Life"

Aired May 02, 2001 - 11:21   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: The man you see there floating in the center is Dennis Tito, and for him, it's another day beyond the great beyond. The 60-year-old multimillionaire turned space tourist hopefully has completely overcome his bout with orbiting sickness, as he continues sightseeing aboard the International Space Station.

Well, joining us now from New York is his son, Michael, and he's going to talk to us this morning about what's going on with his dad.

Michael, thanks much for coming in.

MICHAEL TITO, SON OF DENNIS TITO: Well, thank you.

HARRIS: You know, I've heard you talking quite a bit about this on the other networks, but have -- when's the last time you talked to your dad?

TITO: I talked with him yesterday.

HARRIS: OK.

TITO: I had a great conversation, about 10 minutes via ham radio, as he came across the horizon in Hawaii.

HARRIS: Is that -- ham radio directly, or did you go through NASA for that?

TITO: With NASA's help.

HARRIS: OK. All right. Well, what did he tell you?

TITO: He said that he's having obviously the experience of his life. We've -- we've seen the footage of the biggest smile on his face that I've ever seen. He talked about Africa being his favorite continent and the spectacular red and brown hues.

HARRIS: No kidding. No kidding. What did -- did he describe to you then all the different things he was seeing while he was out there? What did he say about seeing, I guess, deeper and darker space?

TITO: He saw -- he talked about the thin atmosphere, mostly about the blueness of the planet. The first day was quite just the thrill of being in space and the zero-G, and you can see the footage of him with the smile on his face. Yesterday was a slight bit more reflective. It's starting to hit him, and I certainly can see that.

HARRIS: Well, I guess you can get more reflective once you stop throwing up. Is he over that?

TITO: I think that lasted about two hours, and that really wasn't an issue.

HARRIS: Did he say whether or not his training that he went through before this was just perfect, it was exactly what he needed to go through?

TITO: He felt -- he said that he is much more comfortable than he expected, that this is really a piece of cake, and he's just sitting, looking out the portal, listening to opera music, and enjoying himself, getting...

HARRIS: Now your dad is...

TITO: ... money's worth.

HARRIS: Getting -- yeah, getting his money's worth. Yeah, funny you should mention that. Any idea that -- any thinking on your part about maybe asking Dad to borrow another $20 mil so you can go up next time?

TITO: No, I -- not -- not at all. Not right now.

HARRIS: Would you do it?

TITO: I would do it, yeah. I mean, it -- I mean, I can't -- just to see my father experiencing what he's experiencing, I know how genuine it is, and -- what a thrill. I mean, who wouldn't want to do that?

HARRIS: Well, I don't know. Would you want to -- I mean, going into this, I can't imagine that you guys were all very enthusiastic about sending -- sending him up there. I mean, he's looking at about -- you know, he's looking at retirement time. I mean, at -- he's at that particular age, and here he's going through the rigors of getting himself in condition to go through this, and then seeing him strap himself to giant tub of explosives and then going up, and he goes through with this. You -- were you really behind this from the very beginning?

TITO: Yeah. My father is pursuing his dream. Like anybody else, if you set your mind to it, you can accomplish anything, and -- I don't know if my dream is particularly to go to space, but to see him pursue his passion -- I think that's what it's really about.

HARRIS: Yeah. Let me ask you about -- you said you had to go through NASA to get your ham radio call through him. Has NASA been very cooperative, because we know that they have not been exactly big fans of the idea of having your dad up there.

TITO: Yeah. Well, I'm just thankful to be able to talk to my father. I haven't heard much from NASA. But I did ask my father -- or my brother actually asked my father if there were any issues, and my father said that the space station is an awfully big place. He was able to sit there and look out the portal, and -- while everyone else was able to go about their business. So a lot of the issues that NASA had been concerned about don't seem to be a problem up there.

HARRIS: OK. Well, let's hope things stay that way. Michael Tito, thanks much. Hope to see you soon in one of those T-shirts that says, "My dad went to outer space, and all I got was this lousy T- shirt."

TITO: Exactly.

HARRIS: Thanks. Good luck to you. Hope to talk to you down the road, all right?

TITO: Thank you very much.

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