Blasting Off... Again

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A space tourist says he couldn't pass up another trip to the international space station, recession
or no recession.

That's even though the pricetag for this 2009 trip is about $35 million more than his 2007 ride.

The trip will make Charles Simonyi the world's first two-time space tourist. It's expected to be one of the last
times the Russian government lets a tourist hitch a ride to the orbiting outpost.

Simonyi is a computer genius who helped build Microsoft. The 60-year-old says the upcoming trip will be his last space station
visit. He says that's what he's promised his new wife, a 28-year-old Swedish socialite.

She'll be at the launching site in Kazakhstan later this week. Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, who was an usher at
Simonyi's recent wedding, can't make it.