Tito Signs On The Dotted Line For The Trip Of A Lifetime

SPACE TRAVEL

Tito expressing amazement he is actually going to get away with this.

Moscow (Interfax) Jan. 30, 2001
Head of the Russian Aerospace Agency Yuri Koptev has signed a contract for U.S. businessman Dennis Tito's flight up to the International Space Station (ISS) as a tourist on board the Russian 'Soyuz-TM' spacecraft, the Agency's press service has told Interfax.

The world's first space tourist is expected blast off on April 30 on a so-called visit mission, along with Russian cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin. The size of the contract has yet to been officially disclosed, but certain sources say it is around $20 million.

After arriving for his training at the Gagarin cosmonaut-training center Tito developed pneumonia and is now receiving treatment at the Defense Ministry hospital that examines and treats all military cosmonauts, Interfax learned at the center.

Another source reports that Tito is in satisfactory condition and after his recovery will be able to start training for his space flight. Experts from the training center are sure he will be able to go through the entire training process required for a brief mission to the ISS.

This visit mission is expected to be two weeks long. The mission is necessary to replace the Soyuz TM rescue vehicle that delivered the first long mission to the ISS in the persons of U.S. astronaut William Shepherd, and Russia's Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalyov on November 2. The spacecraft's six-month service life will have expired by then. The second long mission will fly to the ISS and replace the first on board a U.S. space shuttle at the end of March.

Tito, 60, graduated from a U.S. aerospace university and for five years worked on unmanned space programs at NASA, and was also involved in the program of exploratory missions to Mars and Venus. He later set up his own company, which among other things applies space technologies.

SPACE TRAVEL

Space Tourist To Prepare For Mir Flight

Moscow (Interfax) September 1, 2000
Dennis Tito, the first space tourist, will start training to fly to the Russian Mir space station in two weeks, head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Pyotr Klimuk has said in an interview with Interfax.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.