The Times wrote that a "secret deal" between American and Russian officials has been reached that would allow Tito to fly to the ISS on April 30 as the first commercial space tourist. The paper also wrote that Tito would have to pass stringent health tests ordered by NASA, as well as "work his passage" on the eight-day mission.

When asked about a possible cancellation, delay or rescheduling of their mission to the ISS, Yuri Baturin, the flight engineer on the April 30 flight told SPACE.com that he and his crew had not heard anything about it.

Baturin did acknowledge that there had been talks between NASA and Rosaviacosmos (Russian Aviation and Space Agency) officials where NASA had suggested the possibility of rescheduling of Tito's flight to late 2001. This idea was met without enthusiasm by the Russians, particularly Baturin and fellow cosmonaut Talgat Musabayev, his copilot on the April 30 flight. "We realize that if our flight is moved to later this year, it will most likely be cancelled," Baturin said.

This week's meeting at JSC will be spread over several days and focus on establishing detailed criteria for the selection, assignment, training and certification for all crews flying to the International Space Station.

"We expect the issue [of Tito] to come up," Larson told SPACE.com. "Ostensibly, the meetings are about commercialization across the board in terms of the Russian segment. Obviously, as part of that, we expect the 'Soyuz taxi flight' issue to come up."