- NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two
Americans have won the go-ahead to become the next tourists in space, and
two more spots for a Russian rocket trip to the International Space Station
are now on the market, the U.S. firm selling the spots said on Tuesday.
-
- Two thrill-seeking civilians, whose names are still being
withheld, have agreed to shell out $20 million each for separate eight-
to 10-day trips into orbit.
-
- These two space tourists won't be the first -- U.S. millionaire
Dennis Tito and South African technology entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth
forked over about the same amount to be launched into space in 2001 and
2002.
-
- Two more seats are up for sale, locking up all the spots
available on Russian Soyuz rockets through 2007, according to Space Adventures,
a private U.S. firm running the trips with the Russian Aviation and Space
Agency.
-
- When the upcoming launches were announced in June, about
a dozen people had undergone medical tests for the two available flights
and paid certain fees.
-
- The successful candidates were picked largely because
they pitched unique mission objectives, Space Adventures President and
Chief Executive Eric Anderson said.
-
- One of the two is a 38-year-old male Manhattan real estate
developer. No details about the other were available.
-
- One of the space tourists will launch in the third quarter
of 2004, and the other sometime in 2005. Space Adventures expected their
names to be revealed sometime in January.
-
- Most of the $20 million per-ticket cost goes to building
the Soyuz rockets, which are not reusable. But the cash also helps boost
Russia's space program.
-
- Russia's Soyuz craft is currently the only working link
to the International Space Station, after the February crash of the Columbia
space shuttle grounded NASA's shuttle fleet.
-
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