Story Highlights • Charles Simonyi grins, chats with support crew after exiting spacecraft
• Simonyi returns to Earth Saturday with Russian cosmonaut, U.S. astronaut
• Software designer had been on international space station since April 9
• Simonyi paid $25 million for his 13-day trip to space
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KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) -- An American billionaire who paid $25 million for a 13-day trip to space returned to Earth on Saturday in a space capsule, making a soft landing on the Kazakh steppe.
The capsule arrived after a more than three-hour return trip from the orbital station, carrying space tourist Charles Simonyi, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, according to a spokesman at Mission Control outside Moscow.
Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software engineer, looked ecstatic after rescuers helped him out of the capsule and into a chair lined with fur for warmth.
He smiled and grinned, shook a hand and spoke with the bustling support crew. He then bit enthusiastically into a green apple, which has become a traditional offering for space crews touching down in Kazakhstan, famous for its tasty apples.
Tyurin looked pale and tired, but soon managed a smile in a video link with Mission Control.
Lopez-Alegria, the last out of the capsule, sighed with relief, smiled and talked to the support crew as doctors measured the men's vital signs. He took what appeared to be a drink of water.
Both had spent seven months on the international space station.
Anatoly Grigoryev, head of a Russian biomedical institute responsible for cosmonauts' health, said it was "quite natural" if Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria felt less chipper than Simonyi. "It is natural that those who spend a quite long period of time [in space] find it harder now," he said.
Russian space agency chief Anatoly Perminov said all the cosmonauts "feel wonderful."
"But of course, Charles Simonyi feels the best, which is understandable," he said.
The trio were initially scheduled to return a day earlier, but the trip was postponed and the landing site shifted because of concerns that spring floodwaters in the usual landing area could complicate the recovery, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
The capsule landed at a reserve site about 85 miles (135 kilometers) northeast of Zhezkazgan, in central Kazakhstan, some 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital, Astana. The Zhezkazgan site has rarely been used since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
'Safe and sound'
"I crossed my fingers all the way, and I am very happy now," Simonyi's brother Tamas said at Mission Control after the landing. "Yes, I was nervous, but now it's a big relief to know that he's safe and sound and that the crew is safe and sound."
Wiping her eyes with a tissue, Lopez-Alegria's wife, Daria, said she was not nervous "until the last minute."
"He missed him much more," she said, pointing to their 7-year old son Nicholas.
"I'm very happy," the boy said. "I'm very excited."
Simonyi arrived at the station on April 9 along with cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who remained on the station. (Watch Simonyi talk about space tourism before his trip began )
Also staying in orbit was American astronaut Sunita Williams, who arrived in December. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said Russian and U.S. space officials will decide next week whether she will return on a shuttle in June or in late summer.
Seen off by Martha Stewart
Simonyi, 58, amassed the fortune that made his $25 million voyage possible through his work with computer software, including helping to develop Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
He is also associated with another major American household name: lifestyle maven Martha Stewart.
Stewart saw Simonyi off at the launch from the Russian-leased launch facility in Baikonur on April 7. She also watched from Russian Mission Control outside Moscow as the Soyuz docked and spoke to Simonyi during a video linkup after he boarded the station.
Simonyi followed in the footsteps of Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Gregory Olsen and Anousheh Ansari -- all "space flight participants" who have traveled to the international space station aboard Russian rockets in trips brokered by Space Adventures.
Briton Helen Sharman in 1991 took a trip to the Soviet station Mir that she won through a contest, and a Japanese journalist traveled to Mir in 1990 with a ticket that reportedly cost $12 million.
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Charles Simonyi


Charles Simonyi, a billionaire software engineer born in Hungary, has returned to Earth after a 25 million dollar trip to the International Space Station with mission Soyuz TMA-10. The original mission, planned to last 13 days, was extended to 14 days when landing was made impossible due to "boggy ground". Mr. Simonyi, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, and American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria made a successful landing in the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft on the Kazakh steppe in Central Asia on Saturday.

Mr. Simonyi was said to be "ecstatic" after rescuers helped him from the capsule and into a fur-lined chair. His first piece of food back on Earth was an offering to returning space crews landing in Kazakstan - a green apple. The controllers supervising the landing burst into applause along with the families of the space crew as a giant screen displayed "It has landed!" in  large red letters.

Simonyi commented "I feel terrific, it was a fantastic trip, it is good to be back," before relaxing in a special reclining chair. The two other returning men were said to be very tired after their 7-month visit to the ISS. "It is natural that those who spend a quite long period of time in space find it harder now," said Anatoly Grigoryev, head of a Russian biomedical institute responsible for the health of the cosmonauts.