MOSCOW -- South African space tourist Mark Shuttleworth's dream of purchasing the Soyuz TM-33 capsule in wich he landed on May 5 will most probably not come true, an official in the Russian Aerospace Agency's press service told Interfax on Monday.

The capsule is federal property, so the decision to sell it requires a clearance from the Aerospace Agency and the State Property Ministry, said Sergei Gorbunov, the press secretary to the agency's CEO. There has been no precedent of such a purchese, he said.

True, a somewhat similar case occurred when Russia launched a Resurs-500 spacecraft in November 1992 to mark the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America. That prototype of Soyuz TM satellites carried souvenirs.

Launched as part of the humanitarian Europe-America-500 project, the satellite landed in the Pacific Ocean outside Seattle and was later exhibited in the Boeing company museum. That spacecraft's hardware was, however, quite different from serial manned Soyuz TM capsules, the official said.

Another impediment to selling the capsule is the fact that such spacecraft fall under the international agreement on nonproliferation of rocket and space technologies, the official said. It is an example of dual technology equipment, which does not make the sale any easier.