BAIKONUR -- Russian space officials are planning for their next paying space traveler as a Soyuz spacecraft carries U.S. businessman Dennis Tito to the International Space Station (ISS) this weekend.
Russian space agency chief Yuri Koptev said launching man into space is a costly endeavor and that the next space tourist will most likely not be a Russian citizen.
The agency is currently drawing up criteria for selecting non-career cosmonauts, Koptev said, noting that this approach is designed to avoid disagreements with the U.S. side, similar to those that arose before Tito's flight. "The U.S. side could not understand the scale of his training program," said Koptev.
He also said that this document is likely to be drafted by the autumn of 2001. The effort to identify more space tourists includes RSC Energia, the Russian company that owns the Soyuz.
Tito was launched to the ISS with Russian cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev (crew commander) and Yuri Baturin (flight engineer) on a Soyuz TM from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Saturday. The spacecraft is to dock with the ISS on early Monday morning.
Russia promised to take Tito to the ISS after it failed to ship him to its aging Mir space station, which it deorbited earlier this year.
But Tito's trip to the ISS fueled protests from U.S. space agency NASA, which said there was no place for amateurs aboard the $95 billion station co-owned by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and European countries.
Russia insisted Tito's mission was safe and said he would fly despite U.S. objections. A series of computer glitches on the ISS that started Thursday failed to force Russia to postpone the trip.
Russia said its decision to arrange such tours was forced by a lack of cash for its space programs.
President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that the government would support the space program, one of few high-tech areas where Russia remains competitive. But the Russian budget cannot offer sufficient funding for the country's space ambitions.
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