MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) has offered a seat, traditionally occupied by a Russian space crew member, to a space tourist for a term of six months, Head of the Roscosmos scientific-technical council Yuri Koptev told journalists on Tuesday.
"It has been recommended to look into the problem of lowering the budgetary load and possibly, even sell a long, rather than short expedition, to a space tourist at the expense of cutting Russia's presence," Koptev said. He did not rule out that the recommendation might turn into an official instruction to "Energy" space-rocket corporation.
"Russia has to keep one Russian cosmonaut on board, as a minimum, while the quota envisages three Russian cosmonauts present on board the ISS. For the time being there are no volunteers to buy such a space flight," Koptev said. "The most likely reason is a high cost of the space flight," Koptev added.