Soyuz spacecraft, unlike the space shuttle, are not reusable and are only good for a finite number of days in space.

Tito said that because of the April mission's short duration, his presence would not interfere with the ongoing construction of the station. And while he is hopeful that NASA will not attempt to dissuade the Russian government from approving his participation in that mission, he believes that sending him would not be a waste of time or resources.

"It's only a six-day mission. The value of that [length mission] to a NASA or ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut would be limited," argued Tito. "I'm also a very qualified person with a scientific background and I think I can hold my own."

A Mir Chronology

Heralding what would become an exciting era in space exploration, on February 20, 1986 the Soviet Union announced the launch of its new space station called Mir.

EXPLORE THE INTERACTIVE MIR

RUSSIA SETS DATE FOR MIR DEORBIT: The Russian space station Mirwill be crashed into the Pacific Ocean on February 27 or 28, the general director of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos) said Thursday. .

"If I were the average Hollywood-type, vanity-astronaut-to-be, that might be a problem. But my interest in space began in 1957. My interest goes back before a lot of people who are involved today in the space program were born."

An aerospace engineer, Tito joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California in 1964, where he developed trajectories for the Mariner 4 mission to Mars and the Mariner 5 mission to Venus. He later moved on to a career on Wall Street in investment management consulting.

As for the skeptics who are worrying about the whereabouts of his $20 million, Tito said they shouldn't.

"My investment is in an escrow account, so financially I'm not at risk," said Tito. "Besides, my investment of time has been amply rewarded. If I were to walk away at this moment without ever flying to space I would have no regrets from this experience because I gained a tremendous amount personally."

Tito, who has lived and trained for almost four months in Russia, said the Mir deorbiting saga, which has been going on for years, only came to a head in the last six weeks when it became clear that Russia could not maintain two ongoing space station projects -- Mir and the ISS.

"The Russians had never maintained two space stations concurrently," Tito recalled. "There was some overlap but they moved from one to another. There was an overlap from Salyut 7 to Mir, but Salyut 7 was inactive during that time."

The Russian space agency made the best choice this week, said Tito: "It's a serious, responsible decision to provide the safe deorbit of Mir and to prevent any harm to persons or property on Earth. I commend them on their decision."

Besides, he pointed out, "which space station would you rather go to?"