BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan (Reuters) -- News that Russia may finally pull the plug on its Mir space station has come as a blow to the American businessman aiming to be the world's first space tourist.
While the United States has complained the aging orbiter is distracting Russia from its obligations to the $60-billion International Space Station (ISS),
businessman Dennis Tito hopes Mir will stay in orbit a while longer.
Tito, once a NASA engineer, has already paid part of the $20-million price tag and hopes to fly aboard the space station next year.
"I am not sure, but I think that I still have a chance," Tito told Reuters at Baikonur, where he will attend
Tuesday's launch of a U.S.-Russian crew to the ISS, the first crew to live on board.
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"I hope Mir stays in orbit. They are going to make a decision now in February," he said. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov has said the government could bring Mir down as early as next year.
"I fear it is too late,'' Valery Green, head of the Russian Space Commission that will make recommendations to the government on Mir, told reporters.
"If the money had come in spring of this year it might have been possible, but now -- even technically --
we may be unable to support Mir. Let's hope for a miracle."
Accident-prone Mir has outlived its planned service life by almost three times, but past proposals to dump it have met with fierce opposition from space officials who see it as a symbol of Russia's once-proud space program.
The expense of the ISS means
the Russian government is unwilling to spend money on Mir. MirCorp, made up of U.S. investors who bought the commercial rights to the station and recruited Tito, has yet to come up with enough cash to guarantee its future.
But Tito, whose life-long dream has been to fly in space, said Mir still had earning potential.
"I think that there are people like me who would be interested in flying and that should provide a source of revenue," he said.
Tito, who is
undergoing training at the Star City space center outside Moscow, said MirCorp was charging $20 million per person. He said part of the money he had already paid had been placed in an account to be released if he actually flew.
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