In a Feb. 6 letter to NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, the senior Texan decried "recent press reports that indicate that NASA is giving serious consideration to allowing a flight to the partially assembled International Space Station (ISS) of a would-be space tourist, Mr. Dennis Tito."

Hall said his opposition to Titos planned visit has nothing to do with the fact that Russia would receive a sizable cash payment -- about $20 million -- for the flight.

"I cannot justify putting at risk a space station that is being built with tens of billions of taxpayer dollars so that a private citizen can fulfill his personal desire to fly into space," Hall wrote. "[Space station assembly] is not the time for distractions or visits by any but trained astronauts who have specific tasks to fulfill."

Hall said Titos visit "would represent a serious misallocation of [space station] resources."

Hall said any space station resources that might be available to support a tourist visitor "should instead be used to support the flight of a trained scientist who can directly contribute to meeting the research goals of the station."

In the letter, Hall pressed NASA to clarify its position on the planned Tito visit.

NASA spokeswoman Kirsten Larson said the agency has received Halls letter and plans to respond "in due time."

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-New York), the new chairman of the House Science Committee, indicated Feb. 5 he does not care for Russias plan to launch Tito to the space station, but stopped short of saying he will attempt to stop it.

"Im not overly excited about our friend who is paying $20 million to go into space," Boehlert said in response to a question from the audience following his speech at the Federal Aviation Administrations Commercial Space Transportation Conference here. "I dont think we are ready for that."