[FPSPACE] Tito to ISS?

[Dwayne Allen Day]

Okay, I have reached the point where I don't believe anything
anymore.  But here is the latest.  By the way, didn't NASA already make it
clear that they didn't want any tourists while ISS was being
assembled?  So NASA is already on record concerning this subject.


DDAY
*************************************

http://www.space.com/news/spacestation/tito_to_iss_001116.html

EXCLUSIVE: Dennis Tito Says It's 'Highly Likely' He Will Go to the ISS In
April 2001

By Anthony Duignan-Cabrera

The death knell may have tolled for the Mir space station, but for Dennis
Tito, the man intent on becoming the world's first space tourist, it's
music to his ears.

"I believe the chance of me going to Mir is less than 1 percent," Tito
said in an exclusive interview with SPACE.com, "but I think it is highly
likely that I will end up flying to the International Space Station
(ISS) on April 30."

Tito, an investment manager from Santa Monica, California, had hoped to
make a trip to the aging Russian spacecraft early next year. The former
NASA engineer had already paid part of the $20 million price tag for the
trip -- including almost $1 million that was earmarked for living and
training in Russia's Star City.

However the trip appeared to be canceled Thursday when Rosaviakosmos, the
Russian space agency, announced that after almost 15 years of operation
the station would be dumped into the Pacific Ocean on February 27, 2001.

Speaking from his apartment in Star City, an upbeat Tito said he was happy
with the agency's decision.