Russia Clears Tito For April 28 Flight To ISS

SPACE TRAVEL

US commercial space tourist Dennis Tito (R) waves, as Russian cosmonauts Yuri Baturin (L), former President Yeltsin's advisor, stands next to him during Tito's training in Star City, 05 April 2001. Dennis Tito will take a flight to International Space Station, April 28. AFP Photo by Alexander Nemenov

Moscow - April 11, 2001
Russian space officials have announced the go ahead for American multimillionaire Dennis Tito's flight to the space station via a Soyuz-TM taxi flight.

According to a report carried by TASS early Wednesday, the flight is scheduled for liftoff April 28 that will carry Tito along with Russian cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin.

Quoting sources in the Russian National Space and Aviation Agency Rosaviakosmos Tass reported that during the course of recent discussions with NASA, the principal concern was not so much about Tito's visit to the ISS, but more with establishing ongoing procedures for sending space tourists to the space station.

NASA remains opposed to the flight, but realizes it has little option but to accept the unilateral move by Russia to commercialize the station ahead of its own belated commercialization plans.

Meanwhile, the Virginia-based tourism company which organized Tito's flight to ISS, Space Adventures, is open for business with its website touting for new customers with a spare $20 million to take the Soyuz taxi to ISS.

SPACE TRAVEL

Commercial Astronaut Ready For Final Tests Ahead Of Trip To ISS

Moscow (Interfax) April 4, 2001
The first space tourist, Dennis Tito, who will join the Russian crew of a spaceship Soyuz TM, will go through comprehensive tests at the Gagarin cosmonauts training center as part of the program for a flight to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 9-10. The crew with which Tito will be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome for a week-long flight to the ISS includes commander Talgat Musabaev and flight engineer Yuri Baturin.

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