Here's a short story about how Charles D. (Charlie) Walker became the first commercial astronaut. Solstar Advisor, Charlie Walker, talks about his career path to becoming the first industrial payload specialist, even after originally being rejected for NASA's space program with 8,000 other hopeful astronaut candidates. His less traditional route to space led to three Space Shuttle flights where he spent some 20 days in space conducting numerous experiments, including being a medical test subject. Here is how it all started.
