A Russia Soyuz rocket carrying two astronauts and U.S. space tourist Charles Simonyi blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday afternoon.

　　So far, there have been six paying space tourists. Simonyi is the first twice self-funded space traveler.

　　In May 2001, California businessman Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist. He paid 20 million U.S. dollars, or 1,800 dollars per minute, for the 8-day trip to the ISS.

　　The world's second space tourist, Mark Shuttle worth from South Africa, soared into orbit in April 2002 onboard a Soyuz TM-34 rocketship. The 28-year-old Internet tycoon carried out a number of experiments on the station during the 10-day mission.

　　U.S. millionaire Gregory Olsen started his flight to the ISS as the third space tourist, or a private science researcher as he regarded himself, on Oct. 1, 2005. The 60-year-old chief of a New Jersey-based infrared-camera company reportedly paid 20 million U.S. dollars for the 12-day flight.

　　Iranian-born American Anousheh Ansari became the first female space tourist in September 2006. Ansari, 40, who ran a telecommunications company in Texas, conducted a series of blood and muscular experiments for the European Space Agency during her eight-day stay on the station.

　　Simonyi, one of the brains behind Bill Gates' Microsoft, paid his first visit to space in 2007, which reportedly cost him 25 million U.S. dollars. The 60-year-old Hungary-born American billionaire paid about 35 million dollars for his second trip.