Illinois Man, Tired Of Waiting, Gets $175K Back For Space Flight

There have been stories about would-be space tourists kicking out as much as $55 million on a seat for a trip into outer space, while others have spent $28 million, $500,000, $175,000, even down to a mere (yeah, right) $100,000 to get themselves on board.

I guess I never stopped to think about anyone ever changing their mind about the trip, especially after they've paid out the big bucks to make sure they've got a spot on a spaceship.

Never, until now.

An Illinois Man From Elk Grove Village Ponied Up Some Serious Funds For A Trip Into Space Aboard Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic 15 Years Ago

But, like most of us, there comes a point when you simply just get tired of waiting around for "someday" to happen. A man named Shefket Chapadjiev paid $175,000 to grab himself a ticket on Branson's pet project way back in 2007, not knowing that 15 years later he'd still be stuck on Earth.

NBCChicago.com:

Chapadjiev, who paid $175,000 15 years ago for a ticket on Virgin Galactic’s commercial spaceship, finally got tired of waiting and asked for a refund. After having previously been urged to keep waiting just a little longer, this time he got it.

Over the long years waiting, Virgin Galactic would send Chapadjiev teasing gifts with the company logo on them — a key fob and a space jacket, among others. And plenty of email updates.

They Kept Telling Him That "Next Year" Was The Year He'd Fly Into Space, But...

That just kept getting pushed back again and again. Mr. Chapadjiev is 84 years old, and he says that his health is "just not that great" at this point in his life, so he decided to go for a refund instead of a spaceship ride.

Chapadjiev says that Virgin Galactic refunded his money, except for a non-refundable 10 percent, but the company says they only kept 5% of his money as a deposit.

If you've got some piles of spare cash lying around, maybe you'd like to buy up his seat. Here's what you'll be getting yourself into: