A Russian actor likely will be absent from the next mission launched to the Mir space station because required money for the voyage is still absent from certain Russian coffers, officials said Tuesday.

If the money isn’t paid very soon, officials will fly a payload container as ballast in place of the seat planned for the first professional actor to shoot a movie in space, according to representatives of the Gagarin Training Center (TsPK), and RKK Energia.

The original plan calls for actor Vladimir Steklov to accompany two cosmonauts to Mir on a privately financed mission that will produce a science fiction movie on board the aging Russian space station.

Yuri Grigoriev, deputy designer general of RKK Energia, the Korolev, Russia-based company that operates Mir, confirmed that Steklov is unlikely to be on board for the planned April 3 launch.

"Regrettably, the flight most certainly will not take place, although Vladimir Steklov is ready for the mission," Grigoriev said during a phone interview.

Grigoriev said that RKK Energia also is waiting to be paid by the movie producers for its bill associated with the actor's mission.

For now Steklov is still considered a member of the crew. An official decision on the fate of his mission is expected in matter of two or three days.

In the meantime, the primary and backup crews for the 28^th long-duration expedition to Mir entered the final phase of their training Tuesday, conducting a so-called complex simulation, a TsPK representative said.

The procedure usually concludes the lengthy crew training process and is considered a major milestone in the cosmonauts' readiness for the mission. During the complex simulation the crew goes through all critical stages of flight: orbital insertion, rendezvous, docking and landing. It is conducted in a Soyuz spacecraft simulator at TsPK's Cosmonaut Training Center.

A backup crew, including cosmonaut Naridjan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov, went through the simulation Tuesday, and will be followed by the primary crew on Wednesday. The primary crew includes commander Sergei Zaletin and flight engineer Alexander Kaleri.

On March 17 and 18, the cosmonauts will travel to Baikonur to sit in the actual Soyuz spacecraft that will take the crew to the station. The procedure would allow the processing team to make final adjustments in the spacecraft.

The meeting of the inter-agency commission, which officially confirms the readiness of the crews for the mission, is scheduled for March 24.

The event is traditionally followed by a press conference where the primary and backup crews are formally announced. The cosmonauts then will have a few days off before their departure to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan, currently planned for March 28.