Russian ISS Captain: Tito Can Go Where He Wants

 By Staff and Wire Reports
 posted: 09:36 am ET
 26 April 2001

 KOROLYOV, MOSCOW REGION -- U.S. financier and first space tourist Dennis
 Tito will not be limited in his movements and actions on the
 International Space Station, captain of the second long-term mission to
 the ISS Yuri Usachev said in reply to a question from Interfax during a
 radio session with the station on Wednesday.

 "Tito is an adult and does not need control," Usachev said, adding that
 the security of the flight will be fully provided for.

 On the first day of his visit to the ISS, Tito will undergo a safety
 briefing. In particular, he will be shown all places on the station that
 pose the greatest danger and the location of the Soyuz TM rescue craft,
 which can be used in case of an extraordinary situation, the Russian
 cosmonaut said.

 The three-man crew -- Tito, who is paying Russia $18 million for the
 weeklong trip, and cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin -- is to
 deliver a fresh Soyuz vehicle to replace the rescue craft, which must be
 replaced every six months.

 NASA, which objects to Tito's flight on safety grounds, maintains that
 the tourist will be allowed into the U.S. section of the ISS only if
 accompanied by an astronaut.

 Soyuz moved into position

 While the details of the 60-year-old businessman's dream vacation
 remained in dispute, Russian launch personnel finished their preliminary
 checks on the rocket that will send him into orbit.

 Cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev laid a coin on a rail to be flattened into a
 good-luck charm by a car carrying the booster rocket to its launch site.

 He then wished a safe journey to the crew, who are set to blast off from
 the Baikonur cosmodrome in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan on
 Saturday.

 Shortly after the sun rose over the brown Kazakh steppes Thursday, the
 metal doors of a hangar housing the Soyuz TM booster slid open, and the
 132-foot rocket rode out on its rail car.

 The booster was slowly wheeled to the launch pad, and set up on a
 platform above a concrete pit, where thousands of tons of water will be
 poured during the launch to absorb some of the heat of the rocket's
 exhaust.

 In keeping with Russian tradition, the crew did not watch the setting-up
 of the booster. The two cosmonauts and Tito were also avoiding large
 gatherings to minimize the risk of infection before the launch.

 "It's a shame he's not Russian"

 But the backup team of Afanasyev and Konstantin Kozeyev were there to
 watch and honor a space-age superstition. As Afanasyev picked up the flat
 circle of metal from the rail, he praised Tito's determination to become
 the world's first space tourist.

 "You have to admire the courage of a man ... who at his age decided to
 fulfill his dream," Afanasyev said. "It's only a shame that he is an
 American and not a Russian."

 A Russian government commission on Wednesday approved the rocket for
 launch after engineers and space experts reported that all systems were
 functioning properly, said commission secretary Alexei Strelnikov.

 "The safety level is 99 percent," said Vladimir Serdyuk, an engineer in
 charge of the assembly. "But even if something should go wrong, there is
 an emergency escape system that would allow the crew to descend safely."

 "NASA will ultimately be happy"

 Tito's fare is also a welcome boost to Russia's cash-strapped space
 program, where a chronic lack of funds has caused several delays in
 construction of the Russian segments of the international space station.

 "If this supports Russian industry, I am all for such tourism," said Igor
 Barmin, chief engineer in charge of the Soyuz launch pad.

 Tito has undergone hundreds of hours of training at Russia's cosmonaut
 training center outside Moscow, and Russian space experts say he will not
 endanger the crew aboard the multinational station.

 He himself said Wednesday that NASA would someday be glad that he was
 granted an exemption to travel on the mission, saying his paid trip would
 be good publicity.

 "I think this flight will be very good for NASA," he said during the
 preflight rituals, which included the raising of Russian, Kazakh and U.S.
 flags. "I think NASA ultimately will be happy that I took the flight."

 Dressed in a blue jumpsuit, Tito hoisted the U.S. flag while crewmates
 Baturin -- a Kazakhstan national -- and Musabayev raised the Kazakh and
 Russian flags respectively.