Japan Space Tourist Not Medically Flight Ready, X-Prize Sponsor to Fly

[Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

FYI,

"Japan Space Tourist Cedes Rocket Seat to US Woman"
Reuters
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060821/sc_nm/space_russia_tourist_dc_1&printer=1

: A Japanese space tourist who had hoped to blast off on board a Russian
: rocket next month was deemed unfit for the trip on Monday, a Russian
: space official said, adding that a U.S. woman was most likely to
: replace him.

: Entrepreneur Daisuke Enomoto had been due to lift off in a Soyuz
: capsule from Russia's Baiionur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppes to the
: International Space Station (ISS) on September14.

: But a medical commission found he was unfit for the 10-day journey.

: "I cannot give you the precise details of the medical checks, but it
: looks like Iranian-born U.S. businesswoman Anousheh Ansari will fly
: instead of him," Igor Panarin, spokesman for Russian space agency
: Roskosmos, told Reuters.

: "I believe the state (space flight) commission will approve Ansari's
: flight by the end of this week," Panarin said.

: Ansari will be the world's third space tourist. U.S. entrepreneur
: Dennis Tito pioneered space tourism, flying to the ISS in April 2001.
: He was followed by South African Mark Shuttleworth in April 2002.

: Space tourists are reported to pay the Russians about $20 million for
: the trip and a 10-day stay in orbit. This is believed to be the cost
: of a Soyuz rocket launch. Russian officials keep contracts with space
: tourists confidential.

--
Mark Reiff <markreiff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

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