This time, Olsen’s secret is really out of this world. On Monday the 58-year-old research scientist, philanthropist and grandfather will announce that he plans to become the next civilian to visit the International Space Station. Price tag: $20 million, cheap because “it’s hard to place a value on such a life-changing experience,” Olsen says. As they did with American Dennis Tito’s flight in 2001 and South African Mark Shuttleworth’s trip in 2002, Space Adventures of Arlington, Va., has brokered Olsen’s ride with the cash-strapped Russians on their Soyuz spacecraft–the only vehicle currently making trips to the orbiting space station. Olsen plans to use the trip to educate and inspire students and to conduct his own experiments on the station; blastoff could take place as early as next October and will be the first trip by a civilian to space since the Columbia disaster. “This is a reaffirmation that there are individuals who are willing to risk their lives for what they believe in,” says Tito, who has advised Olsen on his voyage.
Olsen is not a likely astronaut. He’s a trained physicist whose hobbies include American history, re-enacting Custer’s Last Stand and ballroom dancing. But the former juvenile delinquent with a Brooklyn accent and a strong resemblance to Clint Eastwood wants to inspire kids and even practice his own science in the zero-gravity environment 200 miles above Earth. He plans to bring along his company’s infrared cameras so he can watch atomic reactions in the atmosphere, and to take advantage of unused equipment onboard the ISS to grow the specialized indium gallium arsenide crystals that are inside Sensors Unlimited products. “I want to be busy every hour,” Olsen says. “There is a lot to do in space.”
The next few months will be busy for Olsen. He must pass NASA’s review process for civilian astronauts, persuade station partners to admit his own scientific equipment and endure months of training in Russia (not to mention the food). He also has to re-assure his two daughters and four young grandchildren that spending eight days in space is perfectly safe. Olsen says that astronaut Norm Thagard told him that during his five shuttle flights he had " ‘a childlike belief he would survive.’ I feel that way, too." Olsen’s ready for his countdown.
