Tito reflects on space journey

MOSCOW, Russia -- Space tourist Dennis Tito says he wants to be seen as "a serious man who had a dream and pursued it in the face of great difficulty."

Reflecting on his eight-day trip into space, which ended on Sunday, he said he hoped he would be an inspiration to others who also wanted to achieve their dreams.

Speaking at a news conference at Star City, the cosmonaut training facility outside Moscow, he described the six days spent aboard the International Space Station as "euphoric," adding that he could have stayed up there for months.

"I spent 60 years on Earth and eight days in space and from my viewpoint it was two separate lives," the U.S. tycoon explained.

He said the most profound moment of the experience was speaking to his children on Earth over a "ham radio link."

The U.S. space agency, NASA, had expressed concern that sending an amateur into space could interfere with the space station's work, but Tito suggested its complaints were unfounded.

"We pushed up the timetable maybe half a dozen years.... change is sometimes difficult, I don't feel bad about it at all," he said.

He said he believed the experience would turn out to be very positive for NASA, as well as for the relationship between Russia and the U.S.

One of the two cosmonauts who travelled with Tito, Talgat Musabayev, spoke highly of his performance during the trip, describing him as a full member of the crew, even though it seemed as if he were a tourist.

Tito refused to reveal the cost of the trip, although he reportedly paid up to $20 million. Whatever the cost, "money is relative and for me it was a life dream. It was a dream that began when I didn't have any money," he told reporters.

He is due to return to the U.S. on Saturday, and says his next jaunt will be more modest.

"My next holiday will be chartering a small sailboat which I'll skipper myself, maybe with one other person. A very inexpensive vacation, maybe a few thousand dollars."

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International Space Station
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