"In flight he was a very obedient and disciplined crew member," said Yuri Baturin, the flight engineer on the Soyuz mission that brought Tito to the ISS and back. "But on the second day after his return to Star City, he declined to perform certain rehabilitation procedures. He believed that they were not necessary."
Baturin and Talgat Musabayev, the mission commander, shared their views on the ISS and Tito at a traditional postflight debriefing event at Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center on May 15.
Based on his observations of Titos in-flight and after-flight performance, Baturin believes that certain changes must be introduced into the process of space tourist selection and training.
"I believe that the selection of future space tourists must be done more carefully from a psychological standpoint," said Baturin. "It is important to let them know that they cant buy everything they want for dollars in space. It is like climbing to Mount Everest. Even the richest man on Earth must be a team player and be in a good physical and psychological condition to become a member of a climbing team reaching for the roof of the world. The same is true with relation to space tourists."
Despite Tito's hasty departure, both cosmonauts agreed they were really lucky to have Dennis Tito as their crewmate.
"He did not behave like a millionaire who was expecting to get certain services for the money that he had paid," Baturin said. "He took [to] both his training and his professional responsibilities during our joint mission with a lot of dedication."
However Baturin said that future space tourists must be trained in a group in order to develop a sense of being a unit, a team. Each tourist must have a backup who would replace the main candidate for the flight if the latter is unable to fly for some reason.
"Also future contracts must govern not only the flight, but also postflight rehabilitation and possibly some particular after-flight activities," Baturin said.
advertisement
