spacetoday.net: Russia suspends space tourism plans

Posted: Thu, Feb 6, 2003, 6:01 AM ET (1101 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

Rosaviakosmos officials said this week that they have suspended plans to allow space tourists to fly on Soyuz spacecraft in the wake of the Columbia accident. Russia has sought tourists would pay up to $20 million for a one-week trip on the twice-annual Soyuz taxi flights to the station as a means of funding its space program. However, with the shuttle grounded for the foreseeable future because of the loss of Columbia, Russian officials now say that they will use those taxi flights for carrying long-duration crews to and from the station. The decision is, at least in the short term, largely academic, since there were no announced tourist candidates for the April taxi flight; the long-term impact will depend on when shuttle flights resume. Russia also plans not to include guest astronauts from other space agencies on the taxi flights, such as the series of European astronauts who have flown on recent flights. Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque was scheduled to fly on the April flight, but he will likely be replaced by a Russian or American ISS crew member.