Press Release

Decision Paper on Rosaviakosmos request of exemption to fly Mr. Dennis Tito

By SpaceRef Editor
April 24, 2001
Filed under , ,

Multilateral Coordination Board (MCB) Meeting of April 24, 2001

Decision Paper on Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviakosmos)request
for MCB approval of exemption to fly Mr. Dennis Tito aboard the April 2001 Soyuz 2 taxi flight to the International Space Station (ISS)

Background: Since January 2001, a series of meetings have occurred with Rosaviakosmos and
the other ISS partners (European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology/National Space Development Agency of
Japan, Rosaviakosmos, NASA), regarding the flight of a nonprofessional cosmonaut to the
ISS during the April 2001, Soyuz 2 taxi flight. The ISS partners from Europe, Canada, Japan,
and the U. S. identified concerns with the Rosaviakosmos proposal on three specific areas that
could impact the safety of the crew and the ISS:


  1. the proposed nonprofessional crewmember had not
    completed the training required under the draft ISS Multilateral Crew
    Operations Panel (MCOP)guidelines;
  2. the intensity of on orbit operations during the period of the
    proposed flight made it an inappropriate time for a nonprofessional
    cosmonaut to be onboard the ISS; and,
  3. the appropriate legal and administrative steps had not been
    adequately addressed.


The ISS partnership decision mechanisms provided for in the ISS Intergovernmental
Agreement, related Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), and implementing arrangements,
have been followed in an effort to resolve this matter.

On April 20, 2001, Rosaviakosmos requested that the MCB approve an exemption to fly
Mr. Dennis Tito aboard the April 2001 Soyuz 2 taxi flight to the ISS. In accordance with ISS
agreements and processes, the MCB Chairman referred the Rosaviakosmos request to the ISS
MCOP for consideration and a recommendation.

The MCB members met on April 23 and 24, 2001, discussed the Rosaviakosmos request for
an exemption and reviewed the MCOP recommendations. After thorough discussion among
all MCB members and the positive resolution of the MCOP recommendations, the MCB has
unanimously decided to grant the exemption given the following:

The ISS MCOP will finalize crew criteria for the selection, training, assignment, and
certification of all categories of crew, including all passengers such as non-professional
civilian crew and submission to the MCB for approval no later than June 2001.

Although Mr. Tito has been trained and certified for flight on Russian provided elements,
Mr. Tito has not been trained on other integrated ISS elements. To address this lack of
training, Rosaviakosmos and Mr. Tito have agreed to a number of specific steps to
mitigate risks as addressed in flight rules, ISS crew code of conduct, liability and
indemnification, increased on-board safety training, and limited access to non-Russian
elements. It is understood that Mr. Tito will contribute to the formation of positive
public opinion about the ISS program and the ISS partnership.

NASA has also identified risk-mitigating actions that have been endorsed by the Stafford
Task Force including modification of the Expedition 2 crew’s timeline during the Soyuz 2
crew’s visit to include only those activities required for:health and safety of the crew and
vehicle; nominal maintenance and operational activities to ensure the continued effective
operation of the ISS; and minimal ongoing ISS payload support.

The MCB’s view is that these measures will reduce some of the added risk of Mr. Tito’s
flight in case a contingency occurs on the U. S. element.

In summary, the ISS partnership grants the exemption to fly Mr. Tito aboard the April
Soyuz 2 taxi flight given:


  1. clarification and adoption of the MCOP crew certification process;
  2. mitigation of safety concerns related to shortfalls in Mr. Tito’s training by actions which
    limited Mr. Tito’s activities; and,
  3. completion of necessary legal and administrative steps to ensure adequate measures are in
    place for the entire ISS partnership.

This MCB decision reflects an ISS partnership consensus agreement on
granting the exemption for Mr. Tito to fly to the ISS aboard the April
Soyuz taxi flight while maintaining the overall objective of promoting the
safety of the crew and the ISS.

original signed by

W. Michael Hawes, ISS MCB Chairman, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Savinder Sachdev
Acting Director General, Space Systems
Canadian Space Agency

J&oumlrg Feustel-Büechl
Director, Manned Flight Programme
European Space Agency

Mikhail Sinelschikov
Piloted Space Program Directorate
Russian Aviation and Space Agency

Tsutomu Imamura
Director-General,
Research &Development Bureau
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science &Technology

SpaceRef staff editor.