NASA has a new spaceflight champion in astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who is setting a new record aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for the longest mission by a U.S. spaceflyer.

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/070403_exp14_lopezalegria_record.html

The fourth civilian to visit the International Space Station will accompany the station's Expedition 15 crew into space Saturday, April 7. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) reports that software pioneer and aviator Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP, plans to talk with students at three schools during his ISS stay, including a school in his native Hungary. He also may make casual contacts. A client of Vienna, Virginia-based Space Adventures Ltd, Simonyi, 58, will be the third passenger aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 "taxi mission" that will carry Expedition 15 Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Oleg Kotov, to the ISS. Simonyi will pay an estimated $25 million for the privilege of spending eight days in space.