Tito paid the Russians as much as $20 million for a one-week trip into space that included spending five nights at the frontier outpost. NASA objected to Tito's presence, saying it wasn't safe to have an amateur astronaut onboard so early in the station's assembly sequence.

"So far, NASA has not advanced any legal claims against us. There are no negative consequences of Tito's flight. Any claims of morale damage are totally groundless and have no chances for compensation, though," Koptev said during a briefing at the Alexander House press and business center in Moscow.

The space chief admitted that not all of the legal issues related to Tito's flight were resolved before the flight. Lack of time was to blame, he said.

"The Inter-Government Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding, signed in 1998, envisaged a possibility for the [space station] program participants to develop norms and procedures for the 'amateur cosmonaut' flights. We were too busy, however, to develop such norms," said Koptev.

"In November 2000, we informed NASA that we planned to launch Tito to [Alpha]," said Koptev, who did not recall NASA expressing any negative reaction at that time. That situation changed, however, as the two space powers entered into a standoff in which neither would back down.

But in an 11th-hour compromise, NASA agreed to make an exception in Tito's case after the California businessman signed a release promising to pay for any hardware he damaged and to not hold the international station partners liable for anything else that might go wrong.

The discussions put a lot of stress on Rosaviakosmos, Koptev said.

"We conducted very complex negotiations with NASA. Our legal advisors told us that the fine for [any misdoing aboard the station], including damage to morale, could exceed the money that we had earned from Tito's contract, and could even exceed Russia's space budgetary capacity," Koptev said.

So far NASA has not sent a bill to Russia.

But since the world's first fare-paying space adventurist safely returned to Earth on Sunday, the rhetoric from Washington, D.C. has grown intense, with NASA chief Dan Goldin implying Tito is not an American patriot and U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) likening the Russian's recent behavior to that of a "pimp."

Koptev said he wasn't hurt by the name calling.

"I understand Mr. Goldin's [uneasy position] very well, especially when he had been invited to Congress and when three lawmakers put a lot of pressure on him. He behaved normally and with a lot of dignity in such a difficult situation," Koptev said.

Koptev does not believe that Tito's flight has spoiled relations between NASA and Rosaviakosmos -- the Russian Aviation and Space Agency.

"I see no change in attitude of the U.S. space specialists toward their Russian colleagues or U.S.-Russian cooperation in space [due to Tito's mission]," he said.

As for future opportunities for tourists to fly to the station, Koptev said that so far Rosaviakosmos isn't negotiating with anyone.

"I would like to stress again that until Rosaviakosmos and NASA develop rules governing tourist flights to the station, and until such flights will be integrated into the whole [space station] program, there will be no 'adventure flights' to the station," Koptev said.

Moreover, private Russian organizations such as RSC Energia, which had a hand in arranging Tito's trip to station Alpha after the Mir space station was dropped into the ocean, will not be allowed to make deals until and unless Rosaviakosmos is in a position to bless the contract, he said.

"No such decisions will be made until we observe all our agreements that we made with NASA while solving the issue of Tito's flight," Koptev said.

According to the director general, those necessary rules, norms and procedures governing the selection, training and flight of amateur cosmonauts will be jointly developed by Rosaviakosmos and NASA this summer.

"These rules will eliminate ground for any potential conflicts," Koptev said.