Cosmotourism...bringing Russia, the USA and the world together

It takes a US citizen, backed by the Russian Space Programme, to force NASA to rethink and drop its objection to the trip into space of an American businessman on a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan. In a true spirit of international co-operation, the 60-year-old Californian businessman, Dennis Tito, is allowed by the Russian Space Programme to accompany cosmonauts Talgat Moussabaiev and Yuri Batourin to the International Space Station, in return for a payment of 20 million USD and a signed warranty that he will assume responsibility for any damage suffered. Declaring himself as “the happiest man in the world”, Dennis Tito thanks the Russian authorities for providing him with the means to travel in space.

TIMOFEI BYELO, PRAVDA.RU