Posted: Wed, Jun 18, 2003, 9:34 PM ET (0134 GMT)
Space Adventures and the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos announced Wednesday plans to fly a dedicated tourist flight to the International Space Station, the first such mission of its kind. The mission, dubbed SA-1, would feature two tourists and one cosmonaut pilot on a Soyuz spacecraft, launched to the station for a one-week visit. The mission is tentatively planned for early 2005, and the two tourist tickets will be sold for $20 million each. The announcement was made Wednesday at a press conference in New York with past space tourists Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth in attendance. News reports early Wednesday indicated that Russia would break its moratorium on tourist flights to the station, but made it unclear whether future flights would be dedicated missions like this, or simply selling the third seat on regularly-scheduled Soyuz taxi missions to the station.

Related Links:

•  Space Adventures press release
•  AP article
•  Reuters article
•  CNN article
•  Daily Telegraph (Australia) article