Space Participant Greg Olsen

One of the members of our tour group inside the Russian space program was Greg Olsen, who was the third space participant, or space tourist. Working with the company called Space Adventures, Greg arranged to train with the Russian cosmonauts at Star City. He and his fellow crew members launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on October 1, 2005. Greg spent 10 days in space and had quite a bit to share with us about his experience.


When we were in Star City or Baikonur, it was common for Greg to receive shout-outs and bear hugs from the many people who worked with him during his training. At the rocket raising, the press from the BBC, some Russian stations, and other news reporters interviewed him. Since there are so many members of the press on hand for this launch, Greg often got pulled away for interviews. Since there have only been five space participants from Space Adventures, (soon to be six with this launch), the Russians are still very intrigued by someone willing would spend millions of dollars for the opportunity to launch into space.
Greg has many contacts within the cosmonaut corps, so we had some great opportunities. We had dinner with former cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev. He still holds the record for spending the most days in space-804 to be exact. Although he is no longer flying, Krikalev remains very active with the Russian space program. He works for the company Energia, an aerospace company which is the major producer of spacecraft, launch vehicles, rockets, missiles, and which built the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. Energia is the main contractor for the ISS and built the Zvezda module, for example. Krikalev was happy to answer our questions about space travel.
On another evening, Greg arranged for us to have dinner with his commander on his flight, Valeri Tokarev. After dinner, Tokarev answered questions for our group and showed photos of his days training in the Russian Air Force and his work as a test pilot.



On the day we participated in the crew press conference, Greg explained the procedures they went through while in quarantine the last two weeks before the launch. Even their families are not allowed to have contact with them at the end. Only medical personnel and the back up crew have close access to the prime crew at that point, to avoid passing on an illness that would make the crew sick in space. A photographer at Greg's press conference captured a wonderful photo of Greg's four-year-old grandson "touching" hands with his grandfather on the other side of the glass. The next day, at the suit check for Expedition 18, Greg shared what was going though his mind as he prepared for his launch in 2005. It was terrific to travel with someone who had been to the ISS and spent 10 days in space! To see Greg's photos of his training, launch preparation, and flight, visit his website by clicking here.