Feud over space tourist

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, MARCH 20. A Russian-American feud over the flight of a rich tourist to the International Space Station (ISS) has broken into the open, with the American space agency, NASA, banning the man from pre-flight training in the U.S. and Moscow insisting the man will fly anyway.

A Californian businessman, Mr. Dennis Tito, was to join two Russian cosmonauts on a trip to the ISS aboard a Russian spaceship next month, but on Monday NASA did not allow him to begin crew training in Houston. The Russians boycotted the training session on Monday in solidarity with the American, while the Russian space agency, Rosaviakosmos, said Mr. Tito would fly to the ISS on April 30 as scheduled. The American has paid about $20 millions to cash-strapped Russia for the trip. Originally he was to travel to the Mir, but after Russians decided to sink their space station, he was assigned to go to the ISS.

NASA officials have objected to the trip, saying Mr. Tito will be a burden and a threat to the safety on the ISS, but Russian space officials have argued the Americans have no right to dictate who can travel on their rocket. A Rosaviakosmos spokesman said today the Russian cosmonauts in Houston were told to end their training boycott on Tuesday. At the same time, he asserted that the American tourist would go to the ISS as planned irrespective of whether he was allowed to train or not.

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Section  : International
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