Roscosmos Re-purposing Soyuz Spaceship For Space Tourism - Chief

A Soyuz spaceship ordered under a state contract is now being modified to be employed in space tourism, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said on Wednesday

BAIKONUR (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2021) A Soyuz spaceship ordered under a state contract is now being modified to be employed in space tourism, Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said on Wednesday.

"It was ordered as a Federal spacecraft, but we are now changing its status," Rogozin told a press conference after a Soyuz MS-20 carrying two Japanese space tourists and a Russian cosmonaut docked at the International Space Station (ISS).

In late October, Dmitry Loskutov, chief of Roscosmos's subsidiary Glavkosmos, said that his company had signed contracts with four space tourists for two flights on Soyuz ships in 2024. He unveiled the negotiations in May. The ships will be built by Russian space manufacturer Energia.

In 2001-2009, the Soyuz spacecraft delivered seven tourists to the ISS under contracts with US space tourism company Space Adventures. The crew twice included American entrepreneur Charles Simonyi.