Report: new life for Bass space tourist bid
Posted: Wed, Sep 18, 2002, 8:06 AM ET (1206 GMT)
Lance Bass's efforts to fly to the International Space Station as a tourist may have been revived after being written off earlier this month, MTV reported Tuesday. The MTV report said that Bass may resume training at Star City as soon as Wednesday as soft drink company Pepsi signs a sponsorship deal to help pay for the flight. Pepsi would help sponsor the flight as part of a $35 million marketing package reported earlier this week by AdAge.com; that package would also include buying a seat on another Soyuz flight for the winner of a game show. Bass's training stopped two weeks ago when the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos announced that Bass would be dropped from the flight because of a lack of payment. That break in training could make it difficult for Bass to be ready in time for the late-October launch; a source told MTV that Bass will train 16 hours a day, 7 days a week to catch up. If Bass cannot be ready in time for the October flight, he could instead fly in April on the next taxi flight. Another obstacle to the October flight would be Rosaviakosmos's letter sent last week to the other ISS partners, removing Bass from the crew. MTV's unnamed source said that the letter "means nothing" and can be withdrawn by the Russians.
Lance Bass's efforts to fly to the International Space Station as a tourist may have been revived after being written off earlier this month, MTV reported Tuesday. The MTV report said that Bass may resume training at Star City as soon as Wednesday as soft drink company Pepsi signs a sponsorship deal to help pay for the flight. Pepsi would help sponsor the flight as part of a $35 million marketing package reported earlier this week by AdAge.com; that package would also include buying a seat on another Soyuz flight for the winner of a game show. Bass's training stopped two weeks ago when the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos announced that Bass would be dropped from the flight because of a lack of payment. That break in training could make it difficult for Bass to be ready in time for the late-October launch; a source told MTV that Bass will train 16 hours a day, 7 days a week to catch up. If Bass cannot be ready in time for the October flight, he could instead fly in April on the next taxi flight. Another obstacle to the October flight would be Rosaviakosmos's letter sent last week to the other ISS partners, removing Bass from the crew. MTV's unnamed source said that the letter "means nothing" and can be withdrawn by the Russians.
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