Lots of little children declare they will some day explore the reaches of outer space. But how many of those dreamers make their wishes come true?
Gregory Olsen -- a 1971 Ph.D graduate of the School of Engineering, who visited the University on Tuesday to talk about his experiences in space -- made that dream a reality.
Olsen is the third space tourist, or, as he likes to refer to himself, "space flight participant." He paid an estimated $20 million to go into space.
"You can't put a price tag on it," he said when asked if the experience was worth the cost. "It was a life-changing experience, and I hope to get leverage from it for years."
Olsen distinguishes himself from a mere "tourist" because he put in a rigorous amount of training, which included not only physical and psychological preparation but also some courses in Russian, which he described as "tremendous."
"It was the hardest part of training for me," he said. "[Russian Commander Valery] Tokarev and [American Flight Engineer William] McArthur are pretty much bilingual, but I was never good at language and I struggled through it."
Overall, Olsen went through over 900 hours of training, an experience he compared to being in college. While training, he lived in a dormitory room. On a typical day he got up at 7 a.m. and ran two miles, then had classes from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. he participated in more physical training. Olsen said during the last two months of preparation, Tokerev, MacArthur and Olsen "trained as a crew."
"They would observe us for hours," he said. "They were quite critical -- it was like being a student. I had the same feeling inside as I did during U.Va. exams."
Yet, despite all his hard work, Olsen does not refer to himself as an astronaut.
"I have too much respect to ever consider myself a cosmonaut or astronaut," he said.
Thus, although he was trained as a cosmonaut and conducted experiments for the European Space Agency while in space, Olsen still considers himself a "space flight participant."
He said he believes it would be "tacky if it was just a joy ride," and considers it his "obligation to share this with other people."
As a result, Olsen plans to visit schools and share his experience with students around the world.
"I try and tell them, 'You can do this too,'" Olsen said. "I'm not from poverty, but I am from lower-middle class and I was kind of a screw-up in high school. I try and tell them 'Just don't give up.'"
Olsen's motto reflects experiences of his own life. Having struggled through high school, he went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Fairleigh Dickenson University and then received his Ph.D. from the department of Material Science at the University's School of Engineering. He then went on to found two companies, Epitax in 1984 and Sensors Unlimited in 1991.
His success taught him the importance of never giving up -- a lesson he had to put into use when faced with the prospect of not being able to take off into space. In June 2004, two months after training began, a small spot was discovered on Olsen's lung x-ray.
He said he was "devastated" because this disqualified him medically.
"I didn't give up," Olsen said. "That's the important thing."
The spot went away, and Olsen returned to training.
Although the fear of never being able to take flight continued to plague him, particularly during the weekly medical exams leading up to the launch, finally reaching takeoff made it all worthwhile.
Olsen's happiest moment was the instant the rocket started lifting, a moment he described as "happy, serene and peaceful."
He said there was a huge rush of relief.
"I got this, and there's no way anyone can take it away from me," he said.
When asked if he had any fears or misgivings about being in space, he said the only "fear in the back of my head was that I'd be afraid."
But when it actually happened, he "felt nothing but joy."
Olsen said being in space "was a blast," and he would do it again "in a heartbeat."
One of the things Olsen said really struck him was the unique perspective of Earth he had from space.
From space, the Earth "looks like a big blue ball," he said. "Hey guys, the Earth is round! It's not only round, it's a sphere!"
Olsen was also surprised by the atmosphere.
"It struck me how thin and fragile the atmosphere is," he said. "It's a thin band of blue darkness. That's it, the atmosphere. It's actually less than 10 miles. It's so thin -- it's like the shell on an egg."
"Wow" is how he describes the feeling of weightlessness.
"I would just float in the air," he said. "I felt like it was magic everyday. I felt like I was a kid and I felt how lucky I was."
Olsen says that sleep in space is a lot less complicated.
"You don't have to do anything," he said, closing his eyes while standing at the podium. "So you can just [do this] ... and go to sleep."
At first, however, sleeping took some getting used to because the pace of the orbit meant that it went from light to dark very quickly.
Olsen's expedition was a 10-day trip consisting of two days reaching the International Space Station, eight days on the station and roughly three hours for descent.
The descent is so short because when "you're coming down, basically all you're doing is dropping ... it only takes 6-7 minutes to go through the atmosphere."
Olsen seemed intent that the experience changed his life.
"It was like magic," he said. "I studied physics, but to be an experiment yourself..."
He recalled that when he returned to Earth, "the first five days all the dreams I remembered I was weightless ... every dream I was floating in the air."
Olsen said he believes that space tourism is the future. Within his lifetime, "orbital space flight will be within reach of tens if not hundreds of thousands of people," he said.
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