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 |  | Energiya Chief Weighs in on Tito
By SPACE.com Staff
with Interfax reports
posted: 06:15 pm ET
20 March 2001
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MOSCOW (Interfax) - Russian agencies will insist that U
MOSCOW - Russian agencies will insist that U.S. citizen Dennis Tito should go to the International Space Station as a tourist on April 30 as planned, despite objections raised by NASA, Yuri Semyonov, head of the Russian rocket and space corporation Energiya, said in an interview televised Tuesday evening.
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"We will not budge," Semyonov said, noting that the image of Energiya was at stake as well as the nearly $20 million that Tito had arranged to pay for his flight to the station aboard a Russian Soyuz TM.
Russian space research agencies may ask the nation's cabinet for support in resolving this issue, Semyonov said.
"This is an unpleasant story. I think that politics are involved in it. It must be resolved."
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| The Soyuz spacecraft that delivered the Expedition One crew to the station is seen here docked to the Zarya module.
Click to enlarge.
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Energiya built the Soyuz that Tito would ride if his bid to visit the International Space Station succeeds.
The company also built and operates Mir, the space station that was Tito's original destination before the orbital platform's increasing age and decrepitude forced Russian space authorities to order it scuttled.
Russian Aerospace Agency (Rosaviacosmos) officials separately echoed Energiya's firm defense of Tito's flight, telling SPACE.com that "Tito will fly to the ISS on April 30, regardless of NASA's position."
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