Space Adventures is to fly its third private space tourist, American Gary Olsen, on a Russian Soyuz TMA to the International Space Station in 2005 or possibly as early as October this year. Northrop Grumman has test-fired a reaction-control thruster made of platinum iridium alloy and burning non-toxic liquid oxygen and ethanol, eliminating the need for high-maintenance ceramic coatings. Ball Aerospace & Technologies is integrating the Flyby and Impactor spacecraft for final testing before launch in December on NASA's Deep Impact mission to collide with comet Tempel 1 on 4 July 2005.
Source: Flight International
