- Gregory Olsen
Infobox Astronaut
name =Gregory Olsen
type =Spaceflight Participant
nationality =American
date_birth =April 20 ,1945 (Age: 63)
date_death =
place_birth =Brooklyn, New York
place_death =
occupation =Entrepreneur
rank =Spaceflight participant
selection =2005
time =9d 21h 15m
mission =Soyuz TMA-7 ,Soyuz TMA-6
insignia =|Gregory Hammond "Greg" Olsen (born
April 20 ,1945 ) is an American entrepreneur and scientist who, inOctober 2005 , became the third private citizen to make a self-funded trip into space withSpace Adventures .Olsen was the co-founder and
chairman of Sensors Unlimited Inc., a company developingoptoelectronic devices such as sensitive near-infrared (NIR) and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) cameras. One of Sensors Unlimited's major customers isNASA . Currently, Olsen is President of GHO Ventures, LLC, in Princeton,New Jersey , where he manages hisangel investments , South African winery,Montana ranch, and performs numerous speaking engagements to encourage children – especially minority and female children – to consider careers in science or engineering. He also is a professor atRider University where he teaches a physics class.Early life and education
Olsen, born in
Brooklyn ,New York , was the son of an IBEW Local 3 electrician. He graduated fromRidgefield Park High School ,Ridgefield Park, New Jersey in1962 . After being written off as a failure by teachers due to poor grades in high school, Olsen planned to join theUnited States Army until he was counseled to try college for several months. Through an IBEW Local 3 scholarship, Olsen attempted college, kept his grades high, and graduated "magna cum laude" with multiple degrees fromFairleigh Dickinson University . [Carroll, Kathleen. [http://alacarte.lexisnexis.com/partners/int/google/landingpage.asp?id=14187460&mtid=1&ws=9j0hDk1UboE=&ws_pub=The%20Record%20(Bergen%20County,%20NJ)&ws_date=May%204,%202006&ws_len=203&ws_lni=4JW7-CC30-TWCN-J1RS-00000-00&ws_title=FDU%20renames%20engineering%20school%20after&ws_refer=http://news.google.com/archivesearch?um=1&tab=wn&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22olsen%22+%22fairleigh+dickinson%22 "FDU renames engineering school after $5M gift"] , "The Record (Bergen County) ",May 4 ,2006 . AccessedJune 9 ,2007 . "About 200 people gathered at Fairleigh Dickinson University on Wednesday to celebrate the university's largest-ever gift and the renaming of one of its schools. Alumnus and trustee Gregory Olsen, the world's third civilian astronaut and the founder of two fiber-optics companies, was greeted with a standing ovation..."] He later graduated with aPhD from theUniversity of Virginia .Olsen admits to little business training and believes that for companies making less than 100 million (the smaller companies as he calls them) that success is based more on “intuition, instinct and hard work.” He does credit his success to his graduate science training. “Two of my start-up companies are from the fields I trained in. For instance, my first company EPITAXX (a supplier of optical detectors and receivers for fiber optic telecommunications and cable television networks) relied on my knowledge of physics and material science.” Olsen likes to put his money into high-risk start-ups. [Nagy, Kim; and Stocke, Joy [http://www.wildriverreview.com/spotlight_olsen.php "Reaching for the Stars: An Interview with Greg Olsen - Scientist, Entrepreneur, and Space Traveler"] , "
Wild River Review ", November 2007. AccessedNovember 19 ,2007 .]Spaceflight details
Flown to the
International Space Station (ISS) withSoyuz TMA-7 (launchedOctober 1 ,2005 , dockedOctober 3 ) and landed withSoyuz TMA-6 (October 10 ), Olsen is the third self-fundedspace tourist to visit the ISS, followingDennis Tito (2001 ) andMark Shuttleworth (2002 ) (all three space tourists flew through Space Adventures, Ltd.). Gregory Olsen has made some comments indicating that he is unhappy with the "space tourist" designation. The following is from National Geography's coverage "Space Launch - Along for the Ride (2007)": "Greg: The term space tourist implies that you`ll write a check and you go for a joyride. And believe me that is not the case at all. Narrator: Greg worked hard to get this far, training for two years with the Russian Space Agency."He conducted several experiments in
remote sensing andastronomy while aboard the space station. In an informal presentation at a New Jersey high school, Dr. Olsen estimated the price of his space excursion at US$20 million.See also
*
List of space travelers by name References
ources
# Dr. Olsen's presentation at Hopewell Valley Regional High School, Pennington, New Jersey, USA on 26 April 2006.
# Dr. Olsen's presentation at Montgomery Township High School, Skillman, New Jersey, USA on 20 May 2006External links
* [http://ghoventures.com/bio.aspx Greg Olsen, Official Web Site] GHO Ventures, LLC
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4298814.stm 'Space tourist' blasts off to ISS] –BBC , 1 October 2005
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4303596.stm 'Space tourist' arrives at Space Station] – BBC, 3 October 2005
* [http://www.spacedaily.com/news/tourism-05zk.html Trek to Space Station Is 'A Dream Come True']
* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/olsen_gregory.htm Spacefacts biography of Gregory Olsen]
* [http://www.htdocs.com/essays/baikonur/ Pictures and narrative of the Soyuz TMA-7 launch]
* http://space-forum.org/
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