Dennis Tito

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**Dennis Anthony Tito**
Spaceflight Participant

Nationality	American
Born	August 8, 1940 Queens, New York
Occupation¹	Entrepreneur
Space time	7d 22h 04m
Selection	2000
Mission(s)	Soyuz TM-32
Mission insignia
¹ previous or current

Dennis Anthony Tito (born August 8, 1940 in Queens, New York) is a United States multimillionaire who gained celebrity status by becoming the first space tourist to pay for his own ticket, although he himself opposes being called "tourist" and asks to be called an "independent researcher" since he performed several scientific experiments in orbit. Tito has a Bachelor of Science in Astronautics and Aeronautics from New York University, 1962 and a Master of Science in Engineering Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute satellite campus in Hartford, Connecticut. 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, a leading provider of investment management, consulting and technology services in Santa Monica, California. Tito serves an international clientele representing assets of $12.5 trillion. Wilshire relies on the field of quantitative analytics, which uses mathematical tools to analyze market risks - a methodology Tito is credited with helping to develop by applying the same techniques he used to determine a spacecraft's path at JPL. Despite a career change from aerospace engineering to investment management, Tito never lost his interest in, and commitment to, space exploration.

Through an arrangement with space tourism company Space Adventures, Ltd., Tito joined Soyuz TM-32 on April 28, 2001, spending 7 days, 22 hours, 4 minutes in space and orbited Earth 128 times. Tito performed several scientific experiments in orbit that should be useful for his company and business. Tito paid $20 million for his trip.

Tito was appointed to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners in the 1990s and led the board to support the landmark 1994 state ruling protecting Mono Lake from excessive water diversions by the city.

Since returning from space, he has testified at the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space and the House Committee on Science, Subcommittee on Space & Aeronautics Joint Hearing on “Commercial Human Spaceflight” on July 24, 2003