By
The Associated Press
MOSCOW - A California millionaire who hopes to become the world's first space tourist took his final exam yesterday at Russia's cosmonaut training center in a sign that Russia does not intend to yield to U.S. opposition to his planned visit to the International Space Station.
Meanwhile, a Russian rocket factory announced that it may launch a module for commercial projects - another possible scheme for making money off the station.
Russia's cash-strapped space agency has pushed other participants in the International Space Station, including America's NASA, to accept commercial projects on the station, including accepting space tourists like Dennis Tito.
Tito - the 60-year-old founder of an investment firm who once worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. - was set to fly to Russia's Mir in exchange for a reported $20 million, but Russia scrapped the 15-year-old space station last month. Now Russia plans to launch Tito, along with cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, to the international orbiter aboard a Soyuz rocket April 28.
NASA is adamantly opposed to Tito's trip, arguing that the presence of an amateur could jeopardize the safety of the crew in an emergency.
But Tito, who together with Musabayev and Baturin practiced maneuvers in a Soyuz training capsule for the exam marking the end of the crew's training yesterday, said he was thoroughly prepared.
"I've been training for eight months, and I feel that I'm more than ready," he said. "I just want to make sure that I take all the pictures I want to take when I'm up there."
Pyotr Klimuk, head of the cosmonaut training center in Star City outside Moscow, told ORT television that U.S. opposition to Tito's flight was "a political issue."
Also yesterday, Sergei Zhiltsov, spokesman for the Khrunichev rocket factory, said Russia was considering launching a commercial module to the station.
The 51-foot-long, cylindrical vessel "can be used for almost anything," he said. The module is already 70 percent complete and only needs specialized equipment for commercial work, Zhiltsov said.
The module was a backup for the Functional Cargo Block, the first element of the station launched in 1998. Khrunichev worked on the original cargo block with Seattle-based Boeing Corp.
Zhiltsov said Khrunichev and Boeing have signed a preliminary agreement to use the backup module for commercial purposes. But the Russian Aerospace Agency is also considering using the vessel as a fuel tanker or for storage space at the station, and a final decision has not yet been reached, he said.
Boeing spokeswoman Mary Foerster could not comment on the plans yesterday, but said Boeing Chairman Phil Condit would travel to Russia later this week and make an announcement about Boeing's plans for future space cooperation with Russia.
