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Contract On Esa Astronaut's Flight To Iss To Be Signed Soon

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

MOSCOW. June 30 (Interfax) - A contract to send European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andre Kuipers to the International Space Station (ISS) will be signed in two weeks, an ESA representative told Interfax on Monday.

Earlier, Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, said that the contract had already been initialed by the projects' technical chiefs, adding that the signing is only preliminary.

It is planned that Kuipers will join a short-term ISS mission, which will take off in April 2004.

Meanwhile, the parties signed a contract in late May providing ESA astronaut Pedro Duque with a seat on the spaceship that will take off in October to deliver the eighth mission of Alexander Kaleri and Michael Foale to the ISS. He will return with Yury Malenchenko and Edward Lu, the crew of the seventh ISS mission.

During they stay aboard the ISS, the ESA astronauts will prepare for receiving the first European cargo ship, conduct a series of scientific experiments and install equipment required for the cargo ship's docking with the ISS.

Commercial flights represent a source of extra non-budgetary funds for the Russian space sector. Russia cannot meet its obligations on the ISS's construction in full without active involvement in space tourism programs and organizing commercial flights of ESA astronauts, experts believe. One flight of an ESA astronaut earns Russia about $12 million.

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