Space Tourist at Play

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/02/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

A Russian spacecraft carrying space tourist and California millionaire Dennis Tito, 60, docked with the international space station on Monday morning, within hours of space shuttle Endeavour's departure. He floated inside with a huge grin. "I'm already adapted," Tito told TV cameras, which broadcast images of him floating weightless inside the station some 245 miles high. "I love space." Tito's taxi, the Russian space capsule Soyuz, made its slow approach with Russian cosmonaut Talgat Musabayev at the controls. Its arrival marked the beginning of six days of anxious monitoring by NASA, which opposed Tito's visit for months on safety grounds. NASA reversed its decision only last week. Tito, a businessman, paid the Russian Space Agency $20 million for the joyride.