Reference: CEP20020523000297 Moscow Interfax in English 1517 GMT 23 May 02

		INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
		INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL
		TECHNOLOGY

	 MOSCOW. May 23 (Interfax) - The Russian Aerospace Agency is 
continuing its active search for a space tourist candidate who 
would fly to the International Space Station (ISS) in autumn, 
agency director Yuri Koptev told Interfax on Thursday. The 
agency has received three official applications for a commercial 
flight. A source in space circles told Interfax that the 
applications came from one Russian citizen, a woman from 
Australia and one more unnamed person. In line with established 
rules, the agency is processing the applications. In the 
meantime, two Americans, a singer from the boy group NSYNC Lance 
Bass and former NASA Associate Administrator Lori Garver, are 
completing medical examinations at the Institute for Biomedical 
Problems in Moscow to be okayed for a flight. At a joint news 
conference in Moscow this month, Interfax was told that both 
Americans are expected to announce intentions to fly to space. 
The Russian pop group Na-Na has not given up plans for a space 
flight either. The singers passed the necessary medical tests 
last year. However, the Russian Aerospace Agency told Interfax 
that it has not received any official applications from either 
the Americans or the Russian pop group. It added that there is 
growing public interest in space tourism around the world, and 
that it is now seen as a vehicle for increasing personal 
popularity. At the moment, the probability of the third space 
tourist making a space flight this year is 70-80%, informed 
sources told Interfax on Thursday. The set of services related 
to a taxi mission to the ISS on a Russian spaceship ranges 
between $18 and $20 million, agency sources said.  	

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