Apr 24 2001
From The Space Library
The ISS Partnership agreed to allow space tourist Dennis A. Tito to travel to the ISS aboard the Russian Soyuz TM-32, scheduled to launch at the end of April. The agreement among the space agencies of Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States followed months of disagreement regarding the safety and propriety of allowing the wealthy American businessman to purchase passage into space for US$20 million. Without conferring with NASA or with other members of the ISS Partnership, the Russian Space Agency had made an agreement with Tito permitting him to take a place on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. NASA had protested against including an individual who was not a trained astronaut on the spaceflight at such an early point in the ISS’s development. After Russia had reached the agreement with Tito, he had undergone months of training. The ISS Partnership required Tito to sign a waiver absolving NASA of any liability for his safety and required him to promise that he would pay for anything he damaged. The ISS Partnership also announced plans to formalize the criteria for future visits to the station. (Warren E. Leary, “Deal Reported in Long-Running Dispute on Putting Tourist on Space Station,” New York Times, 21 April 2000; NASA, “International Space Station Partnership Grants Flight Exemption for Dennis Tito,” news release 01-83, 24 April 2001; Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “NASA Continues To Resist Visit by First Tourist,” 15 April 2001; Kathy Sawyer, “Financier’s Spaceflight Gets Final Clearance,” Washington Post, 25 April 2001.)
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