KOROLYOV (Moscow Region), October 2 (RIA...

Space Adventures has been authorized by the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos to select and contract candidates for space tourist trips.

"We have been working on this project for a number of years. Each Soyuz will carry two tourists and a professional astronaut. One of the tourists will have to pass a year-and-a-half training course as a flight engineer," said Sergey Kostenko, the head of the company"s office in Russia.

The official said Russia"s RSC Energia corporation has the capacity to build five Soyuz spacecraft per year instead of four, meaning that Space Adventures will be able to use at least one Soyuz for space tourism purposes.

"The International Space Station (ISS) program requires four Soyuz spacecraft per year, and we have been informed by RSC Energia that they will be able to increase the annual production to five spacecraft," Kostenko said.

He added that Space Adventures would pay for the construction of the spaceship, the launch services

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