Photos: The First Space Tourists

American Billionaire, Astronauts Share Smiles Aboard Space Station

NASA TV.

The world's fifth space tourist Charles Simonyi (bottom center) and the joint space station crews of Expeditions 14 and 15 share smiles after speaking with reporters on April 10, 2007. Clockwise from top left are: Expedition 14 commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Expedition 14/15 flight engineer Sunita Williams, Expedition 14 flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin, Expedition 15 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Simonyi and Expedition 15 flight engineer Oleg Kotov.

Billionaire Space Tourist’s Landing Delayed a Day

NASA

U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi, the world's first repeat space tourist, floats in the Harmony node of the International Space Station during his 2009 spaceflight.

Space Clown to Lighten Mood In Orbit

Space Adventures/ONE DROP Foundation

Guy Laliberte clowns around during training for his space tourist flight to the International Space Station.

Space Adventures Space Tourists, Including Dennis Tito, in Moscow

Space Adventures

Six of the seven Space Adventures alums met in Moscow recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's historic spaceflight of April 12, 1961. Left to right: Greg Olsen, Charles Simonyi, Anousheh Ansari, Dennis Tito and Richard Garriott. (Not pictured: Mark Shuttleworth.)

First-Hand Look: One Family's Unforgettable Zero Gravity Holiday

Steve Boxall/Zero-G

The Stern family of Colorado float in weightlessness during a Fourth of July holiday flight aboard a Zero Gravity Corporation aircraft on July 4, 2010.

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Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.