Revision as of 02:23, 24 February 2023

Introduction

Dennis Tito, an American businessman, was the first person to pay for their own trip to space. He popularized the term 'spaceflight participant', hating the connotation 'space tourist' had. He believed it is important to distinguish space travelers from career astronauts. Having established such a successful career, his net worth is said to be $1 billion.

Early Life

Tito was born on August 8, 1940, in Queens, NY. He graduated from New York University with a B.S. in aeronautics and astronautics in 1962, and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with an M.S. in engineering science in 1964.

Career

Tito worked for NASA as an aerospace engineer, where he helped plan and monitor 9 missions to Mars. After nearly working for a decade in this field, he began working in finance in 1972, where he helped found the Wilshire Associates investment firm. Dennis has been credited with using mathematical tools to determine financial market risks. 20 years later, he negotiated with Russian space agencies to secure his very own trip to space. By the year 2000, he began training for a mission to reach the Mir space station. The mission was soon cancelled after Russia sabotaged the mission. On April 28, 2001, Tito was 60 years old when he paid $20 million to fly the Soyuz spacecraft, spending a week at the International Space Station. This mission had some controversy, as NASA believed Tito did not have enough training or preparation for the mission. Dennis famously stated "'If you're older, heart attacks happen, strokes happen, whatever. And what are they going to do, transport a corpse back to Earth? That would be very embarrassing for them, and traumatic'" (Wall 2011). The mission ended up being a success, in spite of the chaos surrounding it. According to Tom Shelley, President of Space Adventures, "'The private spaceflight industry did start with Dennis' flight'" (Wall 2011).

Where is Dennis Tito now?

As of October of 2022, Tito has announced he plans to return to space to travel to the moon at age 82. He and his wife, Akiko, have been planning to travel for one-week on SpaceX's Starship spacecraft. He is quoted to have said to SpaceX: "'I would be interested in going to the moon'" (Kluger 2022). He looks over to his wife who says, "'Yeah, me too'". This appears to be Tito's last space endeavor. Dennis Tito claims he has been planning this trip for about 20 years, however. If this is true, this means he has been planning his second space trip ever since his first one.