Is Gates eyeing a possible spaceflight?

"American billionaire and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates is eyeing the possibility of his own orbital spaceflight, according to the next commander of the international space station and Russian news reports.



Russia’s Interfax News Agency reported Wednesday that expedition commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, a Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonaut, and U.S space tourist Charles Simonyi discussed Gates’ interest in orbital spaceflight from their perch aboard the space station.

“Charles Simonyi told us that Bill Gates plans to conquer space,” Interfax quoted Yurchikhin as saying during a Russian news conference Wednesday. “Perhaps some of us will find himself in a company with the Microsoft head in orbit some day.”