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A reclusive American telecommunications tycoon is spending millions of dollars to renovate Mir, the closed Russian space station, into a commercial lab, advertising gimmick and out-ofthis- world vacation spot for his fellow millionaires.
Unlike other space-tourism schemes, which all went nowhere, usually cynical space experts say this one has a good chance of success. That's because it involves a destination that's already in orbit (Mir), proven rockets (the Russian Soyuz) and cash that is flowing to a money-starved Russian space program.
The cash, at least $21.2 million, is coming from Washington venture capitalist Walt Anderson, who expects to sign a lease to use the orbital outpost by the end of the month. He will do so in partnership with the Russian space company Energiya, which owns the empty station. Anderson, Energiya and other investors are forming Mir Corp. Ltd. in Bermuda to run what they hope will be the first for- profit space station.
Space resort
Mir fantasy?
High roller
A reclusive American telecommunications tycoon is spending millions of dollars to renovate Mir, the closed Russian space station, into a commercial lab, advertising gimmick and out-ofthis- world vacation spot for his fellow millionaires.
The price to visit Mir? About $40 million or so to be the first space tourist, but a mere $25 million for those who follow.
Unlike other space-tourism schemes, which all went nowhere, usually cynical space experts say this one has a good chance of success. That's because it involves a destination that's already in orbit (Mir), proven rockets (the Russian Soyuz) and cash that is flowing to a money-starved Russian space program.
The cash, at least $21.2 million, is coming from Washington venture capitalist Walt Anderson, who expects to sign a lease to use the orbital outpost by the end of the month. He will do so in partnership with the Russian space company Energiya, which owns the empty station. Anderson, Energiya and other investors are forming Mir Corp. Ltd. in Bermuda to run what they hope will be the first for- profit space station.
Anderson, who already has given the Russians $7 million and plans to invest another $14.2 million soon, said converting Mir into a money-making venture will be the biggest rehab job in human history.
Anderson, 46, made his money buying and selling parts of telecommunications companies, including WorldxChange, Esprit Telecom, USWats, Telco, Mid Atlantic Telecom and TotalTel.
Now, through his Bermuda-based holding company Gold & Appel, Anderson is the biggest of the project's financiers, said Jeffrey Manber, managing director of Energiya's U.S. division and the man who will be president of Mir Corp. Ltd. Anderson and
Rick Tumlinson, the president of the nonprofit Space Frontier Foundation, approached the Russians about saving Mir after the Russian space agency announced last year that the station would be steered into the ocean in 2000.
Instead, an unmanned rocket will now boost Mir into a stable orbit around the Earth at the end of this month. In early spring, a Russian crew is planned to fly there to see if the dead station can be resuscitated.
Anderson and his partners envision not just cleaning up and patching Mir, which in 1997 suffered a near-deadly fire and a crippling crash that punctured the hull of one section, which is now sealed off. They also envision adding rooms, making it even larger than NASA's long-planned but oft-delayed, football field-sized $76 billion International Space Station.
Manber calls this "the world's greatest renovation project."
But even their grand plans may not be enough, Manber admits.
No one has been on Mir since Aug. 27. It already had a slow air and pressurization leak from the June 25, 1997, crash with an unmanned cargo rocket.
There are lots of problems with Mir beyond the leaks - corrosion on the hull, metal fatigue and chemical contamination. These hazards will only worsen as Mir ages, said James Oberg, who has written books about the Russian space program.
Copyright Post Gazette Publishing Company Jan 13, 2000