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[b]Space tourist may replace Kazakh cosmonaut on Fall '09 Soyuz flight[/b] Space Adventures held a media telecon on Friday to announce that one of their clients may have the opportunity to fly to the International Space Station on Soyuz TMA-16, launching this fall. "We have learned from Roscosmos that the third seat aboard Soyuz TMA-16 may not in fact be used by the cosmonaut from Kazakhstan," said Space Adventures president and CEO Eric Anderson, adding that if Kazakh Aydyn Aimbetov does not fly, then "Roscosmos is considering both the possibility of another spaceflight participant opportunity for Space Adventures or using the seat for a professional Russian cosmonaut." Anderson said that this development was an example of how space tourists might follow [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum35/HTML/000397.html]Charles Simonyi[/URL] to the ISS before the expected 2012 [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum35/HTML/000389.html]dedicated Soyuz flight[/URL] of two Space Adventures' clients. "At this point, it is too early to confirm whether such an opportunity firmly exists aboard Soyuz TMA-16 but I mention it to show that it is a distinct possibility, and in fact we believe there will be likely future opportunities for space travelers to visit the space station from time to time, even outside the scope of Space Adventures' private missions," he said. Anderson did not share who would be the candidate for the September 30, 2009 Soyuz mission if it becomes available, but said that spaceflight participant back-ups [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum35/HTML/000374.html#halik]Nik Halik[/URL] and [URL=http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum35/HTML/000397.html#dyson]Esther Dyson[/URL] would be well suited, having already completed their training. Announced in November 2008, Aimbetov's seat on Soyuz TMA-16 was organized under a commercial contract between Roscosmos and the Kazakh government. Soyuz TMA-16 will be commanded by Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev and U.S. flight engineer Jeff Williams, who together will join the Expedition 21 crew on the space station.
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