NASA Chief Says Space Tourist Is Premature

History’s first paid space tourist got his trip to orbit in the “wrong way,” and his Russian hosts may end up having to pay for it, the chief of NASA said Wednesday.

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin told a House subcommittee that Dennis Tito, 60, a Los Angeles multimillionaire who ignored the objections of NASA and paid Russia $20 million to fly him to the space station, has caused anxiety among space workers who oversee the mission’s safety.

“The current situation has put an incredible stress on the men and women of NASA,” Goldin told the committee. “Mr. Tito does not realize the effort of thousands of people, United States and Russia, who are working to protect his safety and the safety of everyone else.”

Tito was launched over the weekend with two Russian crew mates aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and boarded the international space station Monday for a six-day stay.

Russia had accepted $20 million to fly Tito to the Mir space station but switched him to the international space station after the Mir was junked and disintegrated on reentry to Earth.

NASA and other partners in the space station objected to Tito’s plans, claiming that he was not properly trained and that the station was not ready for amateur space trippers.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration also objected to Russia selling tourist trips without the agreement of the other space station partners.

Goldin praised another rich Californian yearning to fly in space, Oscar-winning movie director James Cameron, for deciding to delay his trip until the space station is ready for tourists.

In what he called a “contrast” with Tito, Goldin said Cameron was “an American patriot who understood how to do this.”

Cameron, who won the Academy Award for best director in 1997 for “Titanic,” approached him six months ago and asked about going into space, said Goldin, but was told the station program wasn’t yet accepting tourists.

Goldin quoted Cameron as saying: “I am going to wait until the partners work things out and then go at an appropriate time and I’ll even train.” Goldin said Cameron understood “what is the right way and the wrong way to do things.”

NASA does not oppose trips by nonprofessional astronauts when the station is ready, he said.

“We think there is a place for researchers, educators, artists and other people to go into space,” he said.