spacetoday.net: Russia agrees to fly Malaysian cosmonaut

Posted: Tue, Aug 5, 2003, 1:41 PM ET (1741 GMT)
Russia and Malaysia have reached a tentative agreement to fly a Malaysian cosmonaut on a Soyuz taxi flight to the International Space Station in late 2005, leaders of the two countries announced Tuesday. The guest cosmonaut, not yet selected, is expected to be included in the crew of a regularly-scheduled Soyuz taxi flight to ISS, although it was not yet clear if he would fly in the third seat normally reserved for paying passengers. Rosaviakosmos head Yuri Koptev told Itar-Tass that the selection procedure for the Malaysian cosmonaut would begin in September, with a selection of four finalists to be made by the end of the year. Those finalists will conduct a series of final tests in Russia before one person and a backup are chosen to undertake six to eight months of training. The announcement was made during a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Malaysia. The flight is part of a larger agreement whereby Malaysia will purchase Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter jets.