NASA Moves Closer to Hosting Another Wealthy Space Tourist

NASA and its partners in the international space station have agreed in principle to let a 28-year-old South African become the second paying tourist on the orbiting outpost, the U.S. space agency said Tuesday.

Internet magnate Mark Shuttleworth signed a contract Dec. 4 with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency to fly aboard a Soyuz space taxi to the international space station in April 2002, almost exactly a year after American millionaire and former rocket scientist Dennis Tito became the first person to experience space as a paying guest.

Tito’s flight raised objections at NASA about his fitness and training.

NASA spokeswoman Kristen Larson said some final details needed to be taken care of, but she would not say what they were. She said that the station’s international partners--including the space agencies of Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada--had drafted a set of requirements for space travelers covering “physical ability, psychological ability, language ability” and “length and appropriateness of training.”