WASHINGTON -- With less than six months remaining until the next Soyuz takes off for the International Space Station (ISS), two would-be American cosmonauts hope to announce in Moscow next week that they are medically fit to fly.
Financial fitness is another matter.
According to sources close to the two would-be space tourists, neither pop singer Lance Bass nor soccer mom Lori Garver are in position to announce if they have secured the corporate sponsorships needed to push their competing bids over the top and land a signed flight contract.
Bass and Garver are each counting on corporate sponsorships to cover the $20 million price of a Soyuz flight to the ISS. Both sides are working to conclude sponsorship deals with a well-heeled television network.
A spokesperson for Bass would not comment on the sponsorship search but told SPACE.com that "they're getting a lot of feedback, but nothing is in stone yet."
Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth have already shown that it is possible for a couple of rich guys to buy their way into space. The pressure is now on for Garver or Bass to show that corporate sponsorship is another viable path into space for the non-professional.
"The next week is a crucial time to have either Lori or Lance get a network sponsor tentatively in place in order to complete the economics," said a source close to the tourists.
Because the next Soyuz mission is scheduled to launch October 22, it is already too late for either Bass or Garver to complete full six months of training called for in crew selection criteria the international partners agreed to in January.
While the Russian Aviation and Space Agency has no intention to delay the launch, agency spokesman Sergei Gorbunov said it is possible to fit the necessary training into less than six months.
There are also signs NASA might be willing to let a candidate with less than six months training go to the station.
NASA spokeswoman Debra Rahn said "six months of training is what we prefer" but did not rule out approving a candidate with slightly less training.
"It would have to be decided on a case by case basis," she said.
Garver and Bass will both be in Moscow next week completing the battery of medical tests necessary to be approved for space flight.
Garver, who turns 41 on May 22, told SPACE.com she plans to celebrate her birthday proving she has the "right stuff" when she takes her requisite spin in the ol centrifuge.
Garver has already had her gallbladder removed on the advice of Russian doctors. But she was not alone in willing to undergo the knife to get into orbit.
Bass, 23, recently underwent surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat in his bid to qualify for a Soyuz seat.
His heart condition was "not life-threatening," publicist Jill Fritzo told Reuters. "It's something he had wanted to correct for a long time, but being that he's planning to go into space, it prompted him to move it up a bit." Bass "got in and got it done on the same day as he wants to be in perfect condition for the rest of the tests," his publicist told SPACE.com.
The procedure, first reported in the magazine Us Weekly, was performed in Boston a couple of weeks ago, it was reported.
Although Garver and Bass are competing for the same seat on the October Soyuz flight, the two appear to be developing a friendship of sorts.
When Bass and his *NSYNC mates performed in Washington in April, Garver and her family hosted Bass for a private tour of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. The tour included a special screening of the new IMAX international space station film. The next day, Garver, her husband and two sons attended the *NSYNC show as guests of Bass.
Garver and Bass plan to meet for dinner in Moscow next week.
Correspondent Natasha Yefimova contributed to this story from Moscow.
advertisement
