Space tourists will be able again to fly...
Russia stopped sending tourists to space last year because the International Space Station (ISS) crew has increased from three to six, and all the places on board the spacecraft have been reserved for Russian and foreign astronauts.
"Our capabilities to produce and launch spacecraft have doubled [since 2009], so the possibility [of space tourist flights] could arise again after 2012-2013," said Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos.
Russia"s RSC Energia corporation recently said it had the capacity to build five Soyuz spacecraft per year instead of four, meaning that at least one Soyuz spacecraft could be used for space tourism purposes in the future.
Space tourists started flying to the ISS in 2001.
Dennis Tito, an American businessman and former NASA scientist, became the first space tourist when he visited the ISS in 2001. He was followed by South African computer millionaire Mark Shuttleworth in 2002, and Gregory
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