Dennis Tito

Dennis Tito

Dennis Tito (born August 8, 1940 in Queens, New York) is a United States multimillionaire who gained celebrity status by becoming the world's first space tourist. Tito has a Bachelor of Science in Astronautics and Aeronautics from New York University, 1962 and he later received a Master of Science in Engineering Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hartford. He received an honorary doctorate of engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on 18 May, 2002 and is a former scientist of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In 1972 he founded Wilshire Associates , an investment management firm in Santa Monica, California.

Tito joined Soyuz TM-32 on April 28th, 2001, spending 7 days, 22 hours, 4 minutes in orbit, and docked with the ISS. Tito paid $20 million United States dollars for his trip.