Russia may can space tourist flights
April 2008
Russia could suspend space tourism from 2010 due to a shortage of seats, the chief of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Anatoly Perminov, said this week.
The planned expansion of the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) from three to six will mean that there will be fewer extra seats available for tourists onboard the Soyuz spacecraft, Interfax news agency reported.
The announcement came one day after President Vladimir Putin proposed that Russia's space program should focus less on ferrying foreign payloads into space and more on promoting its hi-tech developments and services. He also stated that an effective space program could become a significant factor in innovative economic development, calling for new ambitious space projects to be implemented.
"We need to significantly expand our presence on the global market for space products and services," Russia's VladimirPutin was quoted as saying.
The decision to turn away paying passengers could come as a blow to budding space cadets as the Russian Space Agency is currently the only organization providing transport into space. So far the agency has ferried five space tourists to and from the ISS and there are plans to take three more, including the first Russian commercial cosmonaut, Vladimir Gruzdev.
So far all flights have been brokered through the U.S. based private company Space Adventures, which offers the round trip for $20 million. However, opportunities in the space tourism business are opening up with several other companies entering the market with more affordable flights.