Should Tito Fly?

Although NASA has signed off on 'space adventurer' Tito's flight, the question remains: should he have pushed the issue in the first place? Take the SPACE.com poll and let the world know where you stand!

NASA has requested that Russia delay the launch to allow them more time to solve problems with the outpost's three command-and-control computers.

Along with passenger Tito, the cosmonaut crew members set to fly the Soyuz into orbit are Talgat Musabayev (commander) and Yuri Baturin (board engineer). The Soyuz TM-32 is scheduled to dock at the International Space Station on April 29 at 9:10 p.m. EDT (April 30 at 01:10 GMT; 5:10 a.m. Moscow time).

According to a source close to the parties that organized Tito's trek, an in-flight chat is in the works between President George W. Bush and the multimillionaire -- a Republican in good standing and a heavy contributor to the Bush presidential campaign.

In an interview from Baikonur with Russian RTR television, Tito said he didn't believe that there would be any problems between NASA and himself following his flight.

"I think that my landing will be a very positive event for NASA," Tito said.

The Soyuz TM-32 is scheduled to return to Earth on the morning of May 6. The original launch date came into question due to the fact that the ISS -- where Soyuz is to dock -- experienced problems this week when computers failed in the U.S. segment.

The Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos) has not given an official, final response to NASA's request for a delay, and sources on both sides of the world confirm that NASA chief Dan Goldin and Rosaviakosmos head Yuri Koptev are expected to discuss the matter via telephone today. A decision is expected later today.

Viktor Blagov, deputy head of the flight program, told the Itar-Tass news agency in Moscow that Russian and U.S. experts were trying to sort out the ongoing mission schedule conflicts.

"We are working to eliminate the [problems],'' Blagov said. The technical problems aboard the ISS "were not catastrophic,'' but, he added, "the situation would finally be clarified only on Saturday morning."

The 10 astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the joined shuttle-station complex largely remain out of the decision-making loop. Told by an interviewer that the Russians intend to proceed with the Soyuz launch Saturday, U.S. station flight engineer Susan Helms said, "That's news to us."

"All that we've heard is that the Americans and the Russians are negotiating in order to make sure there is no technical conflict between the shuttle and Soyuz," she added.

"And that's all we've heard. And anything above that, as far as detail, we're just not privy to it yet. But I'm sure that there are ongoing discussions -- if there's not yet an agreement -- and that agreement is probably coming pretty soon."

At the Baikonur launch site, the rocket is fully fueled, its systems are activated and Russian space officials are evacuating the downrange villages in Kazakhstan where the rocket's spent stages are expected to crash to Earth.

Any liftoff delay would be costly to Russia in terms of keeping the downrange area clear.

Moreover, the Soyuz booster can remain in its current launch-ready configuration for only a few days before its systems must be shut down, its fuel drained and the booster returned to the hangar for several weeks of refurbishment. The exact number of days the primed rocket can stay on the pad is not known.