spacetoday.net: Russia rejects space tourist bid

Posted: Sat, Aug 21, 2004, 8:58 AM ET (1258 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

Officials with the Russian space agency announced Friday that a Russian millionaire will not fly as a space tourist on an October Soyuz flight to the International Space Station. Sergei Polonsky, a 31-year-old Russian businessman, had been in negotiations to fly on the October taxi mission for several weeks. However, Federal Space Agency officials said Friday that Polonsky's bid was rejected on unspecified medical reasons. Polonsky is about five centimeters taller than the upper limit for Soyuz passengers, but Russian officials had previously said that he could probably still be accommodated on the spacecraft. MSNBC reported that his height, coupled with disagreements over whether Polonsky would receive a refund if the flight was cancelled for some reason, is the most likely rationale for the decision. Russia will instead fly a professional cosmonaut, Yuri Shargin, an officer with the Russian Space Force. Launch of the mission on the Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft is scheduled for October 9.