CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- U.S. millionaire Dennis Tito is expected to get a full blessing from NASA and all International Space Station partners early next week for his controversial flight to the outpost, officials told SPACE.com Friday.
In what amounts to a compromise that will legally protect all project partners in the event of a disaster, Tito this week signed an agreement stipulating that neither he nor any of his survivors would sue NASA if he is injured or killed during the 10-day round trip to the outpost.
Whats more, the agreement calls for Tito to reimburse station partners for any damage he might do to outpost hardware or systems during the flight, which remains scheduled for an April 28 launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The deal is
"I think it appears that a compromise, or a solution to the debate, is near. And I think youll get the definitive, everyone-signs-off-on-it call early Monday," a source familiar with ongoing negotiations told SPACE.com.
Tito, 60, is paying the Russian Aviation and Space Agency an estimated $12 million to $20 million to fly to the station on a mission to swap out Soyuz craft at the outpost. The bug-shaped spaceships serve as emergency lifeboats at the complex and must be replaced ever six months.
NASA and 14 of its international partners have vehemently opposed Titos participation in the flight for several months, saying the former NASA engineer:
-- Has not completed the training needed to become familiar with systems within the U.S. segments of the station;
-- Might interfere with crucial station assembly operations that will be taking place during late April and early May;
-- Could present a danger to either himself, his two Russian Soyuz crewmates and the three tenants now serving on a four-month tour aboard the outpost.
NASA officials at both Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and the agencys headquarters in Washington, D.C. say that no formal agreement has been reached yet on Titos participation in the flight.
NASA officials, however, have been in Russia the past week trying to iron out the details of a compromise agreement.
"We are still working with the partners to reach a consensus. Until any decision has been fully vetted through the process, we don't have any more information," said Kirsten Williams, a NASA spokeswoman.
"I can neither confirm nor deny" that a recent Time magazine news story is accurate, regarding a purported NASA approval for Tito to board the ISS, Williams told SPACE.com.
"Discussions with the partners have been going very well at the working level, which is why we
that was scheduled today. We had no need to elevate the discussion to a heads-of-agency level," Williams said.Williams said that NASA officials have been in Russia during the past week working with space officials there to resolve the issues regarding Tito's flight.
"Basically, we're following the appropriate mechanisms to reach a consensus," Williams said.
Assuming the deal gets final approval, Tito, a California investment manager who founded Wilshire Associates, would fly to the station with veteran cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Butarin. The trio would arrive at the station April 30, remain onboard until May 6 and then return to Earth two days later.
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