“To my mind Charles Simonyi is a hero as amid the global financial crisis he's dared to support this international project with his own money,” said Gennady Padalka, 19th ISS mission commander.

At a media conference the flight commander said that next time the space crew will be extended to six members. According to Padalka the crew will be made up of two Russians, an American, a Japanese, a Belgian and a Canadian.

Scientific programme

The 19th mission to the ISS has an intensive programme of 42 experiments, five of which will be carried out for the first time.

The crew will also have to test the new-generation space suits, Orlan-MK.

Michael Barratt, who is a doctor and editor of a space medicine magazine, has told journalists he also intends to perform his own experiments in his spare time.

Exams passed

The Soyuz TMA-10 rocket blasts off, 07 April 2007
(AFP Photo / Maxim Marmur)

Gennady Padalka, Michael Barratt and Charles Simonyi spent two days in models of the International Space Station and the Soyuz TMA spacecraft that will take them to the ISS.

A reserve team consisting of Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev, American astronaut Jeffrey Williams and space tourist Esther Dyson also took exams on March 3-4.

The 19th mission will go into space from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan on March 26. While Padalka and Barratt are expected to stay on the ISS for half a year, Charles Simonyi will only spend 12 days there.

Space tourism as fundraising

The cash-guzzling space industry is always in need of additional financing, especially in the times of economic crisis. So developing space tourism is one of Russia’s priorities.

The Russian space agency Roskosmos organises flights to the ISS together with its partner, the private space exploration company Space Adventures. They have been co-operating since 2001.

Charles Simonyi (AFP Photo / Maxim Marmur)

“This money will be spent on space exploration which is unfortunate in a way for the US. But the only way to do that is through Russia. It is the only country in the world which offers these services and I think it is a fantastic idea,” Simonyi said.

So far six tourists have travelled into space, the first being Italian businessman Denis Tito in April 2001.

Space tourists are trained in Russia’s Star City near Moscow.

The cost of flight into space has increased from $US 20-23 million to $US 30-40 million in 2007. Non-professional visitors to the ISS can also try a space walk, which will cost another $US 15 million.

Meanwhile, Russia's space agency chief has said that after the space crew is extended there will be no more room for space tourists.

But some experts say the loss of revenue won't affect Russia's space ambitions.

“The Russian space programme has enough intellectual, technological and even economic – well, speaking nationally – power to even go beyond the Moon orbit, for instance to Mars. Russia can do it,” says Yury Karash, space analyst from the Russian Academy of Space.