Internet tycoon to become second space tourist
Russia’s top space official says his agency has wrapped up a deal with a South African Internet tycoon to fly to the International Space Station.
Nasa confirmed it had agreed to the plan.
Despite the deep rift with Washington when Russia first sold a seat on the station to a non-professional earlier this year, the United States did not object, Russian Aerospace Agency director Yuri Koptev said.
‘‘We have the understanding of our partners,’’ he said.
Mark Shuttleworth, 27, is set to become the second ‘‘space tourist’’ to fly to the station, arriving in a Russian Soyuz rocket next April, Koptev said.
Nasa spokeswoman Kirsten Larson said the United States has agreed to let Shuttleworth fly.
‘‘We have agreed in principle, but there are still some parts of the deal that we need to finalise,’’ Larson said, noting that Shuttleworth met several basic physical requirements.
The Cape Town native underwent a month of tests and training at the Star City cosmonaut training centre outside Moscow earlier this year.
Koptev said the contract with Shuttleworth would be signed within days. He refused to disclose what Shuttleworth was paying but said it was ‘‘no worse’’ for Russia than the earlier deal with California tycoon Dennis Tito.
Tito reportedly paid Russia $20m for an eight-day trip to the space station in April and May.
‘‘I have always dreamed of space as a platform for inspiration, education and technology, and am working to realise that dream for South Africa,’’ Shuttleworth said in a statement released in South Africa.
Shuttleworth started a business trading in Internet security technologies in his parents’ garage. Last year the company was bought by the US company Verisign, netting Shuttleworth an estimated $500m.
The trip to the space station by Tito, a former Nasa engineer, irritated the US space agency. Nasa said Tito was not adequately trained and could have jeopardised crew safety, and urged postponement until procedures for sending up non-professional space travellers could be worked out.
The Russians ignored the protests.
Nasa has been drawing up crew criteria to avoid a repeat of the very public debate around Tito’s space station visit, which also strained the relationship between the US and Russian space agencies.
