South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth has begun a one-month familiarisation course at Russia's Cosmonaut Training Centre in preparation for a possible space tourist flight aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. He would follow in the steps of "pioneer" Dennis Tito who spent $20 million on the first paid trip into orbit. The terms of Shuttleworth's potential flight have not been agreed and it appears that, if he does fly, it will be on the basis of him being a fully-fledged Soyuz cosmonaut, following completion of a one-year training course.
Source: Flight International
