POP/ROCK - Aug. 22, 1988

John Denver wants to go into space so badly that he’s even talking to the Soviets about hitching a ride with the cosmonauts. According to the trade publication Aviation Week & Space Technology, Denver--who has sought unsuccessfully to be a passenger on the U.S. space shuttle--has asked the Soviet Union for a ride aboard its Mir space station. “The Soviets,” the magazine said, “responded with two conditions. They told Denver they would charge him $10 million for the ride and that he had to get permission from the U.S. government.” The State Department says it has “no position” on Denver’s request--effectively putting it back into the hands of the Soviets.