 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Who Wants To Be A Space Traveller? Russian TV Launches Contest
The Russian state-run TV channel ORT is to launch a televised competition whose winner will blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) in the autumn of 2003, the network said on Tuesday An agreement to this effect was signed Tuesday by the ORT management and the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos, the news agency report said. All the participants in the contest are to train at the Star City astronaut training centre outside Moscow. Two previous space "tourists" have already flown to the ISS aboard Russian space craft. Dennis Tito, a former NASA engineer, flew in April last year, while South Africa's Mark Shuttleworth made the same trip exactly a year later. Both paid the standard fare of 20 million dollars. US boy band heartthrob Lance Bass, the 23-year-old star of pop group N'Sync, spent several months this year training for a trip to space. But Russian space officials tore up their agreement with him last month because his sponsors failed to cough up the money for the October 28 flight. His training and flight were to have been documented for a six to eight-part TV series to be reportedly broadcast on the MTV music channel. Russia's space program is desperately stretched for cash, and its previous decisions to offer commercial space shots for civilians prompted protests from US space officials, who argue that space tourists pose a danger to the entire ISS crew. All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Tourism's Pitch Men Get Ready
Los Angeles - May 06, 2002The dream is alive, has a price tag of $20 million and a small queue is forming. Later this month, the Russians are required to announce who the next 'visiting crewmember' will be in order to meet the terms of the formal crew criteria agreed by the Multilateral Coordination Board for the international space station in January.
|
|
| |||||||||
| 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. |
