Mir-bound tourist will detour to international space station

The international space station

By Richard Stenger
CNN.com Writer

(CNN) -- A U.S. businessman who planned a trip to the doomed Russian space station Mir will instead fly to the international space station, according to an Interfax News Agency report.

Dennis Tito, a U.S. stock market financier and former NASA engineer, could fly to the international space station Alpha as early as April 30, the head of the cosmonaut training center told the agency.

The 60-year-old millionaire signed up last year with MirCorp to become the first paying customer to fly to Mir. MirCorp, an international investment group, leased the 15-year-old space station to turn it into an orbiting hotel. The standard price for a round trip ticket, $20 million.

INTERACTIVE A 360° stroll through the International Space Station Cult3D models of the International Space Station and Soyuz     ALSO In-depth: City in Space     MESSAGE BOARD Do we need the International Space Station?

But the Russian space agency decided last month it would send the deteriorating unmanned station on a fatal plunge into the atmosphere in February. Tito will instead train for a trip to the new international space station, Pyotr Klimuk, head of the Russian cosmonaut training center, told Interfax on Wednesday.

Tito will fly aboard a Soyuz with two cosmonauts and stay on Alpha for two weeks, according to Klimuk.

Yet the itinerary is not guaranteed. NASA, the primary sponsor of the $100 billion international space station, and the Russian space agency must officially approve the flight first. The launch could be delayed until May, Klimuk said.

Tito, an aerospace engineer who plotted interplanetary probe trajectories for NASA in the 1960s, is expected to take part in training exercises this month at the Russian cosmonaut center near Moscow, Interfax said.

MirCorp leased Mir from the Russian government in a partnership with Energia, the private affiliate of the Russian space agency. The Holland-based corporation had planned to turn the once proud symbol of Russian space exploration into a tourist destination for wealthy travelers.

But those hopes were dashed by the cash-strapped Russian space agency, which plans to de-orbit Mir in a controlled crash into the Pacific Ocean.

Mir company chases space tourists
December 13, 2000
Millionaire begins training for Mir trip
August 24, 2000
First privately funded manned space mission blasts off for Mir
April 4, 2000
U.S. tourist plans to visit Mir by 2001
June 19, 2000

HSF - International Space Station
Office of Space Flight - Mir
MirCorp
NASA
Russian Space Agency

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.