An international incident cropped up at the gates of Johnson Space Center (JSC) Monday when the Russian crew members headed for Space Station Alpha in April refused to begin training for their mission after fellow crewman -- civilian American Dennis Tito -- was excluded from the exercises.
Soyuz commander Talgat Musabayev, flight engineer Yuri Baturin and Tito as well as a backup crew arrived at Johnson Space Center Monday morning for a week of training at NASAs Houston, Texas field center, which is home to the agencys astronaut corps.
The cosmonauts and Tito gathered at a security building next to the JSC main entrance and met with NASA officials in a conference room there.
According to an agreement with NASA, the Russian crew was to undertake a one-week training session at Johnson Space Center beginning today. However, sources told SPACE.com that the Russians refused to train at JSC after it became apparent Tito was to be left out of the drills.
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NASA officials told the group that agency officials planned to meet with Tito to discuss administrative and legal arrangements, as well as future training that would be necessary in order for him to fly on a Soyuz taxi mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
Tito, who is to ride the center seat aboard the Soyuz spacecraft, was told that various administrative issues, such as legal liability and repayment of NASA training expenses, needed to be resolved before he would be allowed to begin training.
Upon hearing this, Tito's fellow crew members refused to enter the space center, saying the group either trained together as a team or not at all.
"The Russian Soyuz commander objected to Tito not being included in the crew training, and they elected not to begin training," a NASA source familiar with the incident told SPACE.com.
In a press statement released Monday afternoon, NASA confirmed the incident saying "the Russian Soyuz Commander objected to Tito not being included in crew training and elected not to participate in today's sessions."
NASA officials said the agency is continuing discussions with Rosaviacosmos, the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, in an effort to resolve the matter.
A source close to Tito said the millionaire space tourist found the entire situation puzzling. "He couldn't understand how NASA could do this," the source told SPACE.com.
A NASA spokesperson at JSC confirmed the Russian crew's arrival in Houston, but would not confirm or deny the incident. However, the spokesperson acknowledged that there is currently a situation "a little more complicated than refusing to train," the spokesperson said. "This is just a process we are going through."
NASA said the agency "fully supports the commercialization of the International Space Station, provided that the safety and operational integrity of the vehicle and crew are maintained at all times. To that end, NASA and the other international partners are in the process of establishing criteria for selection, training and certification of non-professional station crew members on the International Space Station on a commercial basis."
A press conference to discuss the training of the Soyuz crew is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. EST (20:30 GMT) at NASA Headquarters on Tuesday.
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