Kazakh set for ISS trip in place of Japanese
Print Edition
Russia yesterday proposed sending a Kazakh cosmonaut to the International Space Station in place of a space tourist in September after a Japanese candidate formally dropped out.
Satoshi Takamatsu, a Japanese businessman, was gearing up to go to space after signing a contract to undergo training but said yesterday that he was not ready for the launch expected in early September.
“The Russian commission has proposed sending a national of Kazakhstan to the ISS,” said Igor Burenkov, a spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Burenkov said Russia had to agree the plan to send Kazakh pilot Aidyn Aimbetov into space with its ISS partners before making a formal announcement.
Takamatsu, who trained together with British singer Sarah Brightman, said he still wanted to travel to space but would wait until later. “I will wait until the moment is right for me,” Takamatsu was quoted as saying in a statement by space tourism agency Space Adventures.
He said that the art projects he wants to pursue in space require more time.
Last month, Brightman, known for her roles in West End musicals such as “Phantom of the Opera,” announced she had to pull out of preparations for family reasons.
Kazakh cosmonaut Aimbetov — a 42-year-old former pilot in the country’s airforce who was not scheduled to blast off until 2017 — is now likely to travel to the ISS.
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