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Russia Says Tito Will Fly
Moscow (AFP) March 14, 2001 Russia has rejected NASA's demand that it delay by several months a flight by US businessman Dennis Tito to the International Space Station (ISS), a Russian space agency spokesman told AFP Wednesday. The world's first space tourist is scheduled to blast off to the new international outpost on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome with astronauts Talgat Musabayev and Yury Baturin on April 30. But NASA is concerned that the eccentric 60-year-old, who is paying Russia 20 million dollars for his 10-day trip to the ISS, will get in the way of the station's crew members, spokesman Sergei Gorbunov said. "NASA is insisting that the flight be postponed until October. They think Tito is not an expert and in April the crew will have a lot of work," he explained. "But the Russian space agency will stick to its position because we signed a contract with Tito," Gorbunov added, saying that meetings were continuing in Moscow to try and reach an agreement on the matter. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the cash-strapped Russian space agency cannot delay the Tito mission because it has signed a deal to take up a French cosmonaut and research equipment onboard the October Soyuz flight. At NASA's Moscow office, director Carlos Fontanot confirmed that the two sides were trying to "establish criteria on qualifications for guest visitors and commercial flights to the ISS." And he said that NASA had not decided if it was prepared to give Tito's mission the green light. "We are looking into what his (Tito's) qualifications are," Fontanot said. Nonetheless. Russian space chief Yury Koptev served notice on Wednesday to NASA that Moscow would fly Tito to the ISS "irrespective of the position of (our) international partners." Meanwhile, Tito, a retired NASA aerospace engineer, continues to train for his space journey at Star City outside Moscow. Tito, Musabayev and Baturin are planning to arrive at the ISS on May 2 on a mission to deliver a fresh Soyuz spacecraft that will provide station crews with a lifeboat should a crisis require an emergency return to Earth. The Soyuz "taxi flight" takes place every six months. Tito's original plan to fly to the ageing Mir space station fell through when Moscow decided to destroy the 15-year-old orbiter, crashing it into the Pacific Ocean around March 20, according to the latest timetable. Related Links Space Adventures SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
Space Command Keeps An Eye On Mir Deorbit
Washington - March 14, 2001United States space specialists are providing Russian technicians with Mir space station positional data to help ensure the vehicle's safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean later this month. |
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