"Space tourists" will not be able to fly to the ISS after 2009

“The ISS crew, as you know, will be increased to six people this year. Therefore, there are no opportunities for the implementation of flights of tourists to the station after 2009. "

Such words were able to hear the correspondent of "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" in an interview with the head of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos - Anatoly Perminov. In addition to stopping space tourists on board the ISS, the head of Roscosmos also noted the fact that, despite the 2008-2009 crisis, Russia does not intend to stop or reduce the number of launches planned for this year. Moreover - this year it is planned to launch four manned crews against two in past years. Anatoly Perminov also expressed confidence that Russia will maintain its leading position in the space program - today about 39% of all world missile launches belong to us, against 27% in the United States and 16% in China.

Taking into account launches in the interests of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the launch of more than 38 launch vehicles is planned for 2009. The first will take place on January 29 - from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Koronas-Photon research satellite will fly on its mission of observing the Sun.

via BFM