...everyone has been fantastic

Dennis Tito

The 60-year-old, who arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, fulfilling a lifetime's ambition to go into orbit, admitted to feeling quite queasy during his flight to the platform.

"Once we got into orbit, it was just unbelievable, to see the Earth from above and the black sky. I felt surprisingly well," Tito told CNN television in a link-up.

"Then, I think I got a little overconfident and I drank some juice and had some dried fruit, which didn't agree with me, and I had my first bout with space sickness. I learned that I have to be careful."

Safety drills

Despite his brief illness, the California financier and former space scientist said the trip had been well worth the price tag, and he said he hoped others would follow in his footsteps.

Tito said everyone on the ISS had made him welcome

"Unfortunately, it's very expensive at this point, but there are others who can afford it and I would like to encourage it," he said.

Tito's trip has not pleased the US space agency, Nasa, who believe the presence of an amateur on the embryonic platform could compromise safety. The agency will not let its former employee visit American sections of the ISS unaccompanied.

"...everyone has been fantastic," Tito said. "[American astronauts] Jim Voss and Susan Helms have just gone out of their way to show me around, give me some safety drills," he added.

Landing diverted

Back on Earth, rain and wind in Florida forced the space shuttle Endeavour and its seven-man crew to change their landing plans.

After installing a billion-dollar robot arm on the International Space Station, the shuttle had been set to come down at Cape Canaveral in Florida, where the crew's families were waiting to welcome them back.

But poor weather on the East Coast meant Endeavour was diverted to the back-up landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert in California.

This was the second time in three months that a space shuttle was diverted to Edwards because of bad weather: Atlantis ended up there in February, also following a space station construction mission.

The final leg of the journey - from California to Florida atop a jumbo - will cost an estimated $1m.