Tests to see if NSync's Lance Bass can become the third space tourist have been delayed because he has a cold.
He was due to undergo medical tests which will help decide whether he will be allowed to travel into space.
But according to the Russian website www.gazeta.ru, Bass caught a cold shortly after arriving in Moscow and the tests have been postponed until next week.
Russia's space agency is believed to be looking for a space tourist to go on a flight to the International Space Station in October.
Bass will have to pass medical tests before undergoing astronaut training.
Story filed: 08:37 Wednesday 22nd May 2002
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 @ 06:26 p.m.
Tue May 21, 6:47 PM ET
By MARA D. BELLABY, Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW - boy band member Lance Bass and a former NASA (news - web sites) official — are currently in Moscow vying for a chance to claim the next seat on a Russian spacecraft, an official said Tuesday.
Dmitry Malashenkov, spokesman for Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems, said 'N Sync (news - web sites) band member Bass and former NASA employee Lori Garver were undergoing medical tests at the center to evaluate their fitness for space travel.
The tests include spending time in a pressurized chamber and a centrifuge test to determine how their bodies would respond to the spacecraft's liftoff.
The results will be forwarded to a state commission, which will then deliver a final report on both candidates' fitness, Malashenkov said.
Russia's space agency continued to express reservations, however, that a space tourist would be ready in time for October's blastoff to the International Space Station (news - web sites) — primarily because of the complicated contract negotiations.
But the agency will hold one seat in the three-person Soyuz spacecraft open alongside Russian flight commander Sergei Zaletin and European Space Agency astronaut Frank DeWinne of Belgium for as long as possible, space agency officials said, according to Interfax news agency.
A Russian cosmonaut will start training for the mission when it becomes clear that no space tourist will join the trip.
The world's second space tourist, South African Internet mogul Mark Shuttleworth, returned to Earth earlier this month, saying it was the best thing he'd ever done. Like the world's first space tourist, Dennis Tito, he paid dlrs 20 million for the ride.
But in a bid to be seen as more than a tourist, Shuttleworth put in eight months of preparation at Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center, spent one week at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and conducted a series of experiments from space.
Bass has reportedly secured the support of the a Los Angeles TV production company, Destiny Productions, to help fund his bid, and film the training and trip for a TV special.
Garver was NASA's associate administrator for policy planning and is now vice president of a defense and space consulting firm in Washington.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 @ 06:19 p.m.
MOSCOW - Lance Bass of 'N Sync (news - web sites) is competing with a former NASA (news - web sites) official for the next seat on a Russian spacecraft.
Dmitry Malashenkov, spokesman for Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems, said Tuesday that Bass and ex-NASA employee Lori Garver were undergoing medical tests at the Moscow center to evaluate their fitness for space travel.
They must spend time in a pressurized chamber and undergo a centrifuge test to determine how their bodies would respond to the spacecraft's liftoff.
The results will be forwarded to a state commission, which will deliver a final report on both candidates' fitness, Malashenkov said.
Russia's space agency continued to express reservations, however, that a space tourist would be ready in time for October's blastoff to the International Space Station (news - web sites) — primarily because of the complicated contract negotiations.
But the agency will hold one seat in the three-person Soyuz spacecraft open alongside Russian flight commander Sergei Zaletin and European Space Agency astronaut Frank DeWinne of Belgium for as long as possible, space agency officials said, according to Interfax news agency.
Bass, 23, reportedly has secured the support of the a Los Angeles TV production company, Destiny Productions, to help fund his bid, and film the training and trip for a TV special.
Posted by Jen on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 @ 06:16 p.m.
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