SPACE.com -- Russia Withdraws Lance Bass' Name from October Soyuz Mission

Carolynn Conley gives HAM radio instructions to potential Soyuz 5 crewmember Lance Bass during an August training visit to the Johnson Space Center.

The Soyuz 5 taxi crew from left: Lance Bass, Sergei Zalyotin and Frank De Winne.

Seated at a simulated ISS workstation, potential Soyuz 5 crewmember Lance Bass undergoes training at the Johnson Space Center for a planned October 2002 spaceflight. Behind Bass are Ginger Kerrick of JSC's International Training group and Herve Stevenin of the European Space Agency.

A Soyuz U rocket is rolled out to its Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in anticipation of an April 25, 2002 liftoff to the International Space Station.

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	Russia Withdraws Lance Bass' Name from October Soyuz Mission By Brian Berger Space News posted: 01:30 pm ET 09 September 2002

The Russian space agency notified NASA on Sept. 9 that it is withdrawingits nomination of Lance Bass as a space flight participant due to continuednon-payment, according to NASA spokeswoman Debra Rahn.

Rahn said the Sept. 9 letter was faxed Sept. 6 to NASA DeputyAdministrator Frederick Gregory, who has retained his chairmanship ofthe International Space Station program's Multilateral CoordinationBoard.

The letter was signed by M.V. Sinelschikov, the head ofRosaviakosmos space flight directorate. Rahn would not release a copy ofthe letter.

However, she said the letter thanks Gregory and other members of thecoordination board for reviewing and approving Rosaviakosmo's proposalto fly Bass.

The letter goes on to say that they have not received anymoney from Bass or his representatives and have therefore terminated hisflight to the ISS. The letter also says that they terminated histraining Sept. 3, according to Rahn.

"They said unfortunately that they couldn't wait any longer for terms ofthe contract to be implemented," Rahn said.

The move follows Russia's rejection of Celebrity Mission's latest offer.A source close to the Bass bid said the negotiations had shiftedrecently to getting the Russians to accept a small sum for the flightand on different terms than previously agreed to.

MirCorp President Jeffrey Manber could not immediately be reached.

Instead of the 'N SYNC singer, the Soyuz taxi mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on Oct. 27 at 10:59 p.m. EST (0359 GMT on Oct. 28) will carry a crew of two and a small cargo canister.

During Bass' visit to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, reporters asked him what he would do if told he wasn't going to make the trip, Bass replied "After I stop crying?" and then promised he would try to make the trip another time.

Soyuz taxi missions are flown every six months so that a fresh lifeboat is always present at the multinational complex.

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