Baikonur: Second Space Tourist

The Russian Commission of Space Travel authorised the journey of South African Mark Shuttleworth to the International Space Station on a Russian spacecraft.

Shuttleworth will accompany the Russian Commander Yuri Gidzenko and the Italian Roberto Vittori on the mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on 25th April, aboard a Soyuz TM-34 rocket.

They will come back ten days later aboard a Soyuz TM-33, the main mission being to substitute this module of the ISS. The TM-34 will remain available for an emergency exit from the space station.

Shuttleworth is the second space tourist after Dennis Tito, who paid 20 million USD last year for a similar trip with a Russian space crew. Shuttleworth, a successful businessman involved in IT, has decided not to reveal how much he paid for his trip.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru