NASA, along with the European, Canadian and Japanese partners in the space-station project, have informed Russia that they are opposed to Tito's trip to ISS, citing concerns he will get in the way of the station's crew during a busy and critical time in the station's construction.

The 60-year-old former NASA engineer has been through eight months of training at Star City, Russia's cosmonaut training center outside Moscow, and says he feels capable of dealing with any emergency.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Tito was quoted as saying; "I had been visited by two NASA top officials in Moscow who tried to get me to postpone my flight until October."

The two officials - astronauts Bob Cabana and Charlie Precourt - didn't mince words about NASA's opposition during a three-hour meeting, Tito told the Orlando Sentinel. "At the end of the meeting, when it was clear I wasn't willing to postpone my flight, they indicated this could get nasty," Tito recalled. "They used the word 'nasty.' "

But the Russians are "people that when they say yes they mean yes and when they say no they mean no. They will honor their contract. The Russians will be behind me 100 percent, and they won't waver from that," Tito told the Orlando Sentinel.

Separately in another interview with CNN as a guest on Thursday during the deorbiting of Mir, Tito said he will not be denied the chance to realize his boyhood dream and fly into orbit, and criticized US officials who say he is not prepared and will only get in the way.

"As long as I can get back to Russia, I'm home free," Dennis Tito told CNN. Emphasizing the importance of this comment, one industry source has told SpaceDaily, that there was every chance that if NASA and the US government tried to impede Tito from launching April 30, then they might just cancel the whole flight.

Should this eventuate and no new Soyuz is launched by mid-May then the second permanent crew would be forced to use the current Soyuz emergency return vehicle and return two months earlier than planned.

During the current phase of construction, NASA had decided that the Soyuz would make the ideal lifeboat while the larger X-38 emergency crew return vehicle was developed which would seat the full ISS crew of seven.

But with a new President and his team calling the shots in Washington nowadays, the opportunity for yet another round of political interference with the space station program has manifested itself as an immediate order to cease work on the Habitation Module, Crew Rescue Vehicle, and the U.S. Propulsion (re-boost) Module.

The net result is that the station will only be rated for a three person crew for much of this decade, and the cheap, expendable Soyuz vehicles would remain in service for crew rescue and station reboosting.

Apart from the looming problem of reallocating access to the other ISS partner nations with only three beds onboard ISS, Russia had been counting on getting more access time by supplying the Soyuz as one of its payment in-kind contributions. Moreover, the immediate problem is that Russia doesn't have the money to supply two Soyuz vehicles a year without finding some valuable cargo to carry along.

As is now becoming obvious the answer looks like being rich men who are fit and find the allure of space so enticing they'll stump up $20 million and more for the opportunity to go there. None of this should be surprising, in that many a rich man has found adventuring more fun than growing old in a gentlemen's club stuffed on brandy and cigars.

But unlike many of the Victorian and Edwardian adventurers who set sail from England never to return, Tito is no fool and nor are the Russians in assessing Tito as been capable to fly on a Soyuz and stay quiet and out of the way on ISS for six days.

No one should be at all surprised that come April 30, Dennis Tito will be launched. "The bottom line is that Tito is a member of the crew, he his the world's first commercial astronaut," said the source.

Although safety is always an issue with space flight, NASA's senior management is fully aware that the real issue is stopping tourist flights to the ISS now and forever.

When NASA officials say they are happy for Tito to fly later this year, they are not being totally honest. NASA doesn't want Tito to go in October either, but that's seven months away and plenty of time to find a new excuse to stop Tito flying.

The simple fact is that if Tito does fly now there will be more commercial passengers on the Soyuz Taxi. Even by NASA's own admission this will be the case, as if its okay in six months then its okay from then on. And the only breakdown in this schedule would be Tito inaugurating the Soyuz Tourist Route in April.

The station will always be a busy place, if not, then the taxpayer should be asking why not.

NASA's concern about safety will largely take care of itself with only very wealthy people who will invariably be older, mature and fully focused on getting the adventure done smoothly and safely.

During his preparations outside Moscow, Tito has trained both on the Soyuz spacecraft that will take him to orbit and the Russian pieces of the station. But NASA officials say Tito will need at least six weeks of training on the U.S. modules. Tito has since said he would remain on the Russian section of ISS.

By the time Soyuz production starts to ramp up again in a few years as the only space-taxi accessible to commercial users, a new independent module based on Mir, Saylut and Soyuz technologies will be launched as the first space hotel.

AFP Correspondents in Washington DC contributed to this report

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