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Tonight’s Dose is dedicated to our cherished friend As most of us already know, she passed away suddenly this week. She had been sick for quite some time, but I don’t think any of us knew exactly how sick she really was. We’re all in shock … stunned by this … Gretchen suffered through so much pain in her life that we can’t help but rejoice and thank God she’s now being held in the arms of her friend Jesus--her tears wiped away forever. But then we remember the friend we’ve lost and our tears still flow. A recent photo...

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan - A Russian rocket carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word blasted off late Saturday from the Baikonur cosmodrome en route to the international space station. ADVERTISEMENT The Soyuz rocket, which also carried two cosmonauts, roared into overcast nighttime skies over the bleak Kazakh steppes, bathing the launch pad and dozens of officials and well-wishers a mile away in a glow of flame as it rose vertically then turned downrange. Charles Simonyi, a 58-year-old Hungarian-born software programmer, paid more than $20 million for a 13-day trip to the orbiting station. He is the fifth paying space...

Martha Stewart Picks Space Pal's MenuPOSTED: 1:11 pm EDT April 6, 2007 BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- Martha Stewart has trekked from her chic surroundings to the bleak steppes of Kazakhstan to watch a friend blast into space. Stewart is a longtime friend of billionaire Charles Simonyi, who has paid up to $25 million for a lift on a Soyuz rocket to the space station. He takes off Saturday with two Russian cosmonauts for a 13-day adventure. Simonyi is a software engineer and developer of Microsoft Word. He's been friends with Stewart for about ten years. She packed a treat for the...

MOSCOW, September 7 (RIA Novosti) - An American software billionaire has become the latest potential space tourist to start training outside Moscow, the Space Training Center said Thursday. Charles Simonyi, 58, a U.S. citizen of Hungarian descent and a key figure in developing Microsoft's Word and Excel applications, has signed a contract with Virginia-based orbital tourism firm Space Adventures this year for a 10-day science mission to the International Space Station in 2007. "Simonyi is seriously determined for the flight and he is ready for thorough and gradual preparations," a training center spokesperson said, adding that the first stage of...