Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google, will fly into space

Brin deposited a $5 million advance with Space Adventures to secure a spot on the Soyuz spacecraft that will take off in 2011 to the International Space Station

The Space Adventures company, which markets for the Russian space agency the few seats allocated to space tourists in the Soyuz spacecraft that arrive at the International Space Station every six months, announced that one of the next space tourists will be none other than Sergey Brin, a 35-year-old young man of Russian origin who is better known as one of the founders of the search and advertising giant On the Internet, Google. Brin does not need to prove his connection to the field of space, having developed within Google the Google Earth software and recently also the sky map as an add-on to Google Earth.

Brin will take off to the space station in 2011. He deposited a total of five million dollars and will become the first member of the group of founders who will be the first swallow of the new Space Adventures Orbital Mission Explorers Circle program. This program will allow individuals to reserve seats on future space flights that go into orbit around the Earth. These people will be given the opportunity to fly into space when their schedule allows, and they will have priority in determining the seats. They will also have the option of selling their seat to another private astronaut. The cost of a flight to the space station is currently estimated at 30 million dollars.

A press release issued by the company stated that the group was assigned six spots, and each of them will receive preferential access to participate in future space missions, says Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. The program is intended for entrepreneurs, investors, CEOs and other successful executives who wish to fly into space, and they also want to invest in a future slot. This is an excellent mechanism that preserves for them the option of a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. We are proud that Sergey Brin will lead the effort and be the founder of the group."

"I'm a big believer in space research, its development and commercialization," said Breen. "Space Adventure helped open up space to private citizens and thus also paved the way for a private space industry. The orbital course will allow me to make an immediate investment and keep the option to participate in a future space mission."
The company calls on five more entrepreneurs of Brin's type to join the founding group, where the amount they pay will be deducted from the final payment for the mission when they actually leave.

So far, five private tourists have flown into space

• Dennis Tito (American) – April 28 – May 6, 2001.
• Mark Shuttleworth (South African) – April 25 – May 5, 2002.
• Gregory Olsen (American) – October 1 – October 11, 2005.
• Anushesh Ansari (Iranian/American) – September 18 – September 29, 2006.
• Charles Simoni (American/Hungarian) – April 7 – April 21, 2007.

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