An exhilarated Mr Dennis Tito, the world's first space tourist, made a text-book landing on the Kazakh steppe early yesterday and said he had just returned from paradise.
His Russian Soyuz capsule, back from its week-long trip to the International Space Station (ISS), touched down right on time at 4.41 a.m. Irish time and was dragged 15 metres across the barren steppe as a strong side-wind caught its parachute.
"It was great, best, best, best of all. It was paradise, I just came back from paradise. Great flight, great landing. A soft landing," blurted the American millionaire as he emerged unsteadily from the capsule.
Mr Tito, who reportedly paid the Russians $20 million for the flight, and his fellow flyers, Mr Talgat Musabayev and Mr Yuri Baturin, were then each given an apple, a national symbol in Kazakhstan and traditionally presented to returning cosmonauts.
Mr Tito, whose eight-day trip caused a major US-Russian row, tried to juggle the apples but dropped them to the ground. "You see, I'm still used to weightlessness. But I enjoyed this trip. I've finally had my dream," he laughed.
While Mr Baturin and the Kazakh-born Mr Musabayev, looking fit and well, walked to a nearby field hospital for a brief check-up, Mr Tito had to be taken in a wheelchair.
The trio then flew by helicopter to Kazakhstan's capital in the steppes, Astana, to meet President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who greeted them with a hearty hug.
Mr Tito appeared somewhat unco-ordinated and was supported by the elbow by a strapping young man.
"I offer an especially warm welcome to Mr Tito," Mr Nazarbayev told his visitor. "Until recently you would only read in science fiction that an ordinary man could go to space. You have paved the way for space tourism."
"My personal experience was well beyond my dreams," Mr Tito replied. "I was worried that I might not feel well in space. But I turned out to feel the best I felt in my entire life."
While Mr Tito's mission has caught the imagination of the world's press, Kazakh journalists were far more interested in the adventures of Mr Musa bayev.
"I took some Kazakh soil and a Kazakh flag," he told his appreciative audience. "And my book and my portrait," chipped in a beaming President Nazar bayev.