Ex-Microsoft Employee Now an Astronaut - Charles Simonyi
In this Associated Press photo: In this image made from NASA-TV, U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi, front row right, flips upside down during a news conference after he, Fyodor Yurchikhin, left, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, front center, docked at the international space station Monday, April 9, 2007. A Russian-built Soyuz capsule carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word docked at the international space station late Monday, to the earthbound applause of Martha Stewart and others at Mission Control. In the back row, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria can be seen. (AP Photo/NASA TV)
Did you know Microsoft had an astronaut in their ranks? Well, maybe not an astronaut, but Charles Simonyi who helped develop the word processing behemoth that is Microsoft Word was recently launched to the International Space Station in a Russion made spaceship.
Simonyi, 58, lives in the United States where he amassed a fortune through his work with computer software, including helping to develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
Not just a space tourist, Simonyi has basically invented the first, galactic Meals-on-Wheels program by bringing with him a gourmet meal chosen by Martha Stewart to be shared with the space station crew on Russia’s Cosmonaut Day. He’ll also be doing some experiments while on board as well.
Update: After reading the complete entry about Charles Simonyi on Wikipedia, the connection to Martha Stewart has risen to the surface. Charles and Martha are currently dating!
Simonyi was bringing with him a sample of the paper computer tapes that he used decades ago when he first learned programming on a bulky Soviet machine called Ural-2.
While at the space station, Simonyi will be conducting a number of experiments, including measuring radiation levels and studying biological organisms inside the lab.
I can’t even comprehend the amount of money it would take to finance your own trip to outerspace like this. Totally amazing!
Full story: Space capsule carrying U.S. mogul docks
Tags: Charles-Simonyi, International-Space-Station, Microsoft-Excel, Microsoft-Word, Russian-cosmonautRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Corporate News, Speculation
3 opinions for Ex-Microsoft Employee Now an Astronaut - Charles Simonyi
Celeb Geeker
Apr 9, 2007 at 10:46 pm
As an avid Microsoft fan, computer programmer and space aficionado…naturally I have been following the recent pursuits of billionaire Dr. Charles Simonyi, one of my greatest techie idols. For those of you who do not know, Charles Simonyi is one of the founding fathers of Microsoft and the author of Microsoft office. He lives on a 90 million dollar yacht, and seems to date the sexy lifestyle guru Martha Stewart.
Recently, Charles paid the Russian Space Agency a rumored 25 million dollars to become the world’s 5th space tourist. I was curious to watch the build up to this event. This is when I realized that Charles had made a serious blunder on his way to race to the stars. He hired an opportunistic, phony by the name of Susan Hutchinson to run his foundation and behave as his spokesperson. Why might you ask would I care?
Well, after listening to her for 2 seconds and seeing her picture, I became disappointed with the fact that Dr. Simonyi, a brilliant scientist, would higher a non-nerdy person to speak for him, I doubt this lady can even turn on a computer. Delving into her background, I uncovered that previously, she had been a local Seattle newscaster (I have a feeling she was a Weather Girl). She somehow found herself in politics recently and began exploring running for Senate. It seems that the voters of Washington State dismissed her in an instant and caller her out as an “Uninformed candidate” (another term for “Moron”).
If I have to listen to this women speak on his behalf again, I will stop following his journey. I can’t sit back and watch an unintelligent person who has no idea what a CD-ROM drive is, let alone space travel try to pretend that she has a clue.
Dr. Simonyi, stick with your own kind! Be Proud! Next time, higher a geek.
Jason
Apr 9, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Thanks for reading the site. Let’s be careful and not offend all the weather people out there. I should have read your comment earlier and found out about Martha Stewart and her relationship with Charles. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Microsoft Weblog » More Stuff About Microsoft Veterans
Apr 11, 2007 at 10:34 pm
[…] but I thought it was interesting to see another tie-in to ex-Microsoft employees after just doing the article about Charles Simonyi and his space flight. Tags:Charles Simonyi, Cozi, Jan Miksovsky, Mark Bramley, Robbie Cape, […]
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