April 16, 2002. Copyright 2002. Graphic News. All rights reserved.

Internet billionaire set to fly to space station

LONDON, April 16, Graphic News: South African internet whizz-kid Mark Shuttleworth, the worldÕs second would-be space tourist, is ready for blast-off. ÒIÕm very proud to carry the flag of South Africa, an African country, into space for the first time,Ó Shuttleworth said as he left Moscow for Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Shuttleworth and fellow crew members -- Italian flight engineer Roberto Vittori of the European Space Agency and Russian commander Yuri Gidzenko -- have been approved for flight to the International Space Station (ISS). Takeoff has been set for April 25, cosmonaut training centre spokesman Andrei Maiboroda said.

While Shuttleworth, who also holds a British passport, will bear the nominal title of second flight engineer, the chief difference between him and his fellow cosmonauts is that he will have paid around US$38.3 million out of his own pocket for the privilege of being hurtled through the EarthÕs atmosphere in a cramped Soyuz spacecraft.

It is the same sum American Dennis Tito paid Rosaviakosmos -- the Russian Aviation and Space Agency -- to fly to station Alpha last April, becoming the worldÕs first space tourist. NASA, which was less than keen on the idea of accommodating the energetic 60-year-old, restricted his movements around the station. He was not allowed to enter the U.S. part of the station and had to stay in the Russian living module Zvezda. 

However as fears that Tito would push the wrong buttons turned out to be groundless, NASA has been softer on his successor. ÒMark will have full freedom in moving around the station, there will be no restrictions for him,Ó Gidzenko told journalists.

Shuttleworth, a bouncing 28-year-old, does not see himself as just Òspam in a canÓ -- the words astronaut Alan Shepard used to describe his journey as AmericaÕs first man in space. During his stay on station Alpha he will perform a number of biotechnological and medical experiments, including monitoring the development of animal cells under conditions of microgravity. Six types of mice and sheep stem cells will be sent to the ISS in special incubators, said Daniel Barry, professor at the South African University of Stellenbosch. 

Barry, who is ShuttleworthÕs scientific adviser, explained that stem cells are the most primitive of all body cells, with the potential to develop into any other body cell under certain conditions.ÊIf we take into consideration that the foetus develops in a bag of water -- the amniotic sac -- which brings the effect of the earthÕs gravity down to about one-fifth (an object weighs about one-fifth of its normal mass when in water), it might be that stem cells in a test tube will develop better and faster under conditions of zero gravity, as exists in outer space. The research could be used to help find cures for AlzheimerÕs and ParkinsonÕs diseases.

In a second experiment Shuttleworth will attempt to grow crystals of two proteins which the immune system uses to protect against infectious organisms such as viruses, bacteria and parasites. Some infectious organisms such as HIV are able to block this protein action.

A third experiment will monitor ShuttleworthÕs heart rate, blood pressure and other physiological responses to allow for a direct comparison of the changes in his cardiovascular system on Earth and in space.

However, the main task of the mission will be to replace the Soyuz TM-33 rescue vehicle with the new Soyuz TM-34 that GidzenkoÕs crew are arriving in. At the end of the mission Shuttleworth and his two colleagues will descend to Earth in the TM-33 escape pod which has been attached to the station for the past six months, and whose service life in orbit is running out.

On the day they drive out to the launch pad the crew will observe one good-luck ceremony set by Yuri Gagarin on his historic journey into space 41 years ago. Since then every cosmonaut and astronaut who has ridden the fiery tail into space has stopped on the way to the launch pad to take a leak on the rear right wheel of the bus. The crew will also receive a Russian Orthodox blessing, say goodbye to their loved ones, and then climb inside the spacecraft. In less than nine minutes from ignition they will be in space.
/ENDS

Sources: Starsem, NASA, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Energia