[FPSPACE] Re: Third Seat on October Soyuz -- Who?

[Neville Kidger]

Definitely not a tourist according to today's interview with Perminov.
Novosti (2004-06-28 21:45   ) quotes him as saying :

"$20 million for a space flight is quite a lot of money. "So it is not true
to say that there are many volunteers. Sometimes there are people who want
to celebrate their wedding in the space or have some other interesting
ideas. But when it comes to concrete action, that is, payment, they all
disappear," he said.

Perminov expressed his sympathy for Gregory Olsen, who had failed to become
No.3 space tourist. "Unfortunately, the recent candidate for space tourism,
Gregory Olsen, failed to pass a medical examination that determines whether
a candidate is ready for pre-flight training. I am very sorry for him, he
wanted to work in the orbit very much and was getting ready to conduct some
experiments there. But to become an astronaut you need good health. For
Russia this also means that it will not earn additional money by space
tourism this fall," Perminov concluded. "

Cheers,

Neville