Alexey Shironin: Space Tourist

Exactly 10 years ago, on April 28, 2001, the first space tourist entrepreneur from the United States and former NASA employee Dennis Tito (Dennis Tito) went to the Russian ship to the International Space Station. For almost 8 days in orbit, he, according to the RGRK Voice of Russia , laid out $ 20 million. With the beginning of the era of paid flights, the example of Tito was followed by another 6 people, the latter in 2009.

A space tourist is not just an unprofessional astronaut, but one who flies at the expense of personal funds. Back in 1990, the Japanese journalist Toyokhiro Akiyama (Toyohiro Akiyama) led television portions from the side of the Russian Mir station, but the Tokyo broadcasting corporation paid for its flight. US teacher, Sharon Crista McAuliffe, chosen under the NASA Teacher in Cosmos program, died in 1986 with the shuttle of the Challenger. But she also cannot be considered a tourist.

When those who wanted to lay out their bloods on the flight at the Union appeared, someone had to take on the organizational part. So the Space Adventures company arose with headquarters in the United States, which convinced Roscosmos to take on board the elderly Dennis Tito and everyone else.

It should be noted that Russia is the only country in the world that has not only the technical opportunity to make piloted flights, but also legal grounds for transporting “participants in space flights” on its ships, as cosmoturists are called in official documents. The US laws, on the contrary, are clearly prohibited.

In May 2009, the permanent crew of the ISS was increased from three to six A person, as a result of which tourists were left without places in ships and the business temporarily stopped. However, at the beginning of 2011, Space Adventers reported that in 2013, flights of tourists on Soyuz will resume.

True in Roscosmos, this news is commented extremely restrained, hinting, for example, that it would be nice to invest money in the creation of an additional “union” company. Like on those four who, according to the plan, fly to the ISS throughout the year, there are no places and is not expected.

Despite the growing price of the ticket, the share of financial revenues to Roscosmos from tourism for 10 years fell and in any case will not exceed the percentage of the budget of the department, which increased 20 times at the same time. If earlier tourism seemed almost the “savior” of our space industry, now it needs to be separated from state programs as much as possible, according to an expert in the field of astronautics Igor Lisov.

“At least there should be a clear division of finance. Say, such and such a company orders the ship for its money and carries tourists, hires the crew and so on. When this is done in the framework of the state program, it is always very problematic. Not to mention the fact that the tourist elementaryly "packed" our astronaut from the crew. I do not see much sense in carrying tourists once a year. This probably makes sense for specific organizers receiving commission. And for the state - no, ”he claims.

A remarkable fact - when preparing as part of an international crew, a foreign astronaut should study the Russian language at a level sufficient to understand the teams of the crew commander. This is important for action in the event of an emergency.

However, according to Igor Barmin, the general designer of the KB of General Engineering, specially for Dennis Tito translated into English the side Red Book, which contains instructions for extreme situations.

A space tourist, like any other crew member, commander or sorcerer, has an understudy who is preparing for the flight, paying it from his own pocket. The cost is not officially announced, but according to various estimates, it is approximately 10% of the flight price - that is, at least 2 million dollars.

The American of Persian origin Anusheh Ansari was preparing for the cosmic flight as an understudy of the Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto, who was supposed to become the fourth space tourist. However, on August 21, 2006, his flight was canceled by medical indicators, and the next day Anusha was included in the main crew.

So the flight, even a space tourist, will take place in any weather!