Boris Chertok, a close associate of Sergey Korolev, the Soviet Chief Designer who masterminded the Russian side of the space race, is strongly in favor of Dennis Tito's trip. Chertok, who used to develop flight control systems for Soviet man-rated boosters and missiles, is 90 years old and is considered a living legend in Russian cosmonautics. Chertok also briefly held the position of acting Chief Designer after Korolev's death.
What do you think of Titos flight?
I have a very positive attitude toward Titos mission. It shows that space has been explored so well by people in general that even regular older citizens may live and work there, not only fighter pilots. If Tito, who is 60 years old, managed to fly today then in a few years from now even people of my age, or in their 90s, could fly as well.
I believe that mountain climbing for people of Titos age is a much more dangerous and risky enterprise than a spaceflight.
Did you believe 40 years ago that people would fly in space as tourists?
Even Sergey Korolev, Soviet Rocket Chief Designer, said in 1961 that soon people would be booking places on tours of space. When Korolev said this, the Soviet people were often given free stays in sanatoriums (vacation retreats) and resorts. We believed then that sports and rest facilities would be placed into space.
However, all the countries spent too much money on the preparation for the Third World War, so we did not have enough time or money to build space hotels. Maybe Tito and his wealthy colleagues will find enough money after Titos flight to build a module that would be used as a space hotel. This would be quite good.
I believe that any kind of investment into space activities, even those made by space tourists, will be very useful for space exploration. It gives an opportunity to aerospace professionals to develop space technology, makes it more accessible and reliable. We know that lack of finances is one of the stumbling blocks in the way of space technology development.
The more money invested in space industry now, the cheaper will be space tickets for future Mars and Moon tourists.
What do you think of the U.S.-Russian debates delaying Titos launch? Do you think it was mostly about technology and politics?
Russian and American engineers are competent enough to solve the problems much more difficult that those caused by ISS computers. Thus, I believe that most problems [related to ISS operation] are caused by politics, not technology. The technology can do much more than we expect from it.
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