Bad Weather Delays Space Tourist's Return Home

Simonyi, a billionaire founder of U.S. computer software maker Microsoft, paid $25 million for the original 13 day flight with two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station.

Tour agency Space Adventures which organized Simonyi's trip said he would not have to pay anything extra.

"This decision was an operational decision and it works out to his benefit," Stacey Tearne, vice-president for communications at Space Adventures, said.

She pointed out the $25 million cost of the expedition also included the six month training and build-up period.

Simonyi is the fifth space tourist to pay Space Adventures between $20 million and $25 million for a trip into orbit. The first was U.S. businessman Dennis Tito in 2001.

Valery Lendin, a spokesman for Russian mission control, said rain had softened the ground forcing controllers to move slightly the designated landing spot in Kazakhstan and push re-entry back by a day.

"There is no problem though, there has just been a slight delay," the spokesman said. A capsule carrying the three men will land on the Kazakh steppe on April 21 and not as originally planned on April 20. -Source: MosNews