Biography source: RSC EnergiaDENNIS
TITO
Space flight participant,
USA
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:
August 8, 1940, New York, USA.
EDUCATION:
He graduated in 1962 from the New York University engineering college
with Bachelor's degree in astronautics. In 1964 he took his Master's
degree in engineering from Rensellaer University. In 1970 he took a
course at the Anderson school of management of California University,
Los Angeles.
FAMILY STATUS:
Divorced. He has a daughter and two sons.
AWARDS AND TITLES:
Master's degree in engineering.
EXPERIENCE:
In 1963 he started working as an aerospace engineer in NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory. He calculated trajectories for interplanetary probes of
the Mariner series, in particular, he participated in the program of
robotic missions to Mars and Venus.
In 1972 he founded his company Wilshire Associates Inc. in Santa Monica,
California. The same year he developed the Wilshire aggregate market
index (Wilshire 5000), which is the most widely used index in the securities
market. Official representatives of the US Federal Reserve System call
this index the barometer of the US economy. At present, Wilshire Associates
Incorporated is the leading provider of services in the areas of management,
consulting and investment technologies.
Since October 9, 2000, he has been training at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Center for a flight to the Russian space station Mir as a space tourist.
That flight did not take place because of the de-orbiting of Mir.
Background Information
26 April 2001: Tito Will Fly, interview with NASA Watch Editor Keith Cowing, @Discovery.ca (broadcast On Discovery Channel Canada and on Discovery's Digital Channel in the U.S.) [Windows Media Player plugin required]
25 April 2001: Dennis Tito's Space Vacation is GO, SpaceRef
21 March 2001: A space tourist tussle, interview with NASA Watch Editor Keith Cowing, @Discovery.ca (broadcast On Discovery Channel Canada and on Discovery's Digital Channel in the U.S.) [Windows Media Player plugin required]
19 March 2001: Dennis Tito's Flight to Space Station Hits Major Snag - with NASA, SpaceRef
10 December 2000: Earth's First Self-Financed Astronaut (an interview with Dennis Tito) , SpaceRef
28 September 2000: Sending "Average" People into Space is Suddenly VERY Popular, SpaceRef
19 June 2000: World's First Space Tourist to Visit Mir, SpaceRef
