News - Russian space agency willing to build a spacecraft for tourists

Russian space agency willing to build a spacecraft for tourists

21 July 2003 21:27

ITAR-TASS news agency

Moscow, 21 July: Vyacheslav Mikhaylichenko, a spokesman for the
Russian Aerospace Agency told ITAR-TASS today that the agency is ready
to sell a Soyuz manned spacecraft to launch tourists [into space]. He
said that the US company Space Adventures, which organizes journeys to
the International Space Station (ISS), had expressed interest in
buying the Soyuz. By agreement with the Russian Aerospace Agency, the
company has put up two tickets to space for sale for 2004-2005, one of
which has already been sold. However, the exact days of flights cannot
be determined before the resumption of the shuttle flights, suspended
after the loss of Columbia, Mikhaylichenko said. "The company may
order the construction of its own spacecraft this year so as not to
wait for vacant seats for tourists aboard Soyuz spacecraft, which, in
the first place, will be used to deliver main crews for the ISS and
visiting missions," he said.


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