He paid Virgin Galactic $175K in 2007 to be on a spaceflight. Now 84, Elk Grove Village man, tired of waiting, got his money back.

Shefket Chapadjiev, 84, bought a ticket in 2007 to fly into space with Virgin Galactic. But Chapadjiev, seen with Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, finally got tired of waiting and asked for a refund. (Provided)

Shefket Chapadjiev watched a beaming Richard Branson and his fellow space tourists floating 53 miles above Earth last year on a spaceflight years in the making.

But for the 84-year-old Elk Grove Village man, his own dream of spaceflight has felt like a distant, dying star.