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	Mir Operators Deny Booking Tourist By Anatoly Zak Staff Writer posted: 07:00 pm ET 19 May 2000

Mir_tourist

The operators of the Mir space station denied Friday reports by the Russian press claiming that the first potential "tourist" had signed up for a 10-day trip to the space station this November for $10 million.

RKK Energia, which operates Mir, along with the Netherlands-based MirCorp, which rents the station for commercial purposes, did confirm that negotiations are under way with a potential client in Italy, who might book such trip in the future.

Moscow business newspaper Kommersant reported Friday that MirCorp. and a company named Italia-Mir "signed a contract" for the first tourist flight to Mir. Carlo Viberti, 37, an engineer from Turin, Italy, would take a ride, Kommersant reported.

A MirCorp representative in Washington explained that the Moscow daily picked up this information from an article originally published in an Italian newspaper La Stampa. The newspaper, based in Turin, reported the signing of an initial protocol stating that both sides would negotiate a possible trip to Mir. "This information is correct," a MirCorp representative said, "By the time it made it to Russia it has been translated into a 'contract.'"

MirCorp president Jeffrey Manber arrived in Italy Thursday for negotiations on a possible deal. A MirCorp representative said that the Italian newspaper broke the story about a protocol before Manber got there.

Alexander Derechin, head of the International Marketing Division at RKK Energia, echoed MirCorp's explanation. He said that possible deals were in the works but he was unaware of any contracts.

"I talked to the MirCorp people today, and I heard nothing about signing a contract," Derechin told SPACE.com on Friday.

"This is not the only instance where we are talking to the potential customers and this is all I am at liberty to say right now," the MirCorp representative said.

According to MirCorp, Jeff Manber will return to the United States this weekend and then plans trips to France and Japan.

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