MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th July, 2021) The presence of tourists on the International Space Station (ISS) brings inconveniences for professional cosmonauts and may interfere with the fulfillment of the approved program, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, a member of the current ISS crew, said on Thursday.
"It would be interesting to work with tourists, but at the moment the configuration of the station, its goals and objectives are designed for professional astronauts, and the presence of tourists here will probably impose some inconvenient moments for the work of professionals," Novitskiy said in a video call with school students.
To prevent the interference of tourists in the work of the ISS crew, which is "planned for many years ahead and must be completed," it is better to build special visiting stations for tourist flights, he said.
In the meantime, two tourist flights to the space station are currently scheduled for later this year. The first one, set for October 5, will bring Russian director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild to the ISS on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft for the shooting of a Roscosmos-backed feature film.
Beyond that, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa together with his assistant Yozo Hirano will travel to the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft on December 8.
