Space tourism update

Via Steel Turman, we find that

A Soyuz rocket carrying U.S millionaire scientist Gregory Olsen and a Russian-American crew lifted off Saturday from the Central Asian steppe, launching the world's third space tourist on a two-day journey to the international space station.

...The spacecraft entered its initial designated orbit nine minutes after the launch. Three booster stages of the rocket had separated on schedule. As the spacecraft entered orbit, the crew reported all was well aboard.

Olsen, the 60-year-old founder of an infrared-camera maker based in Princeton, N.J., reportedly paid $20 million for a seat on the Expedition 12 flight.

Olsen, who holds advanced degrees in physics and materials science, defended his presence in the capsule as a necessary step in the evolution of space travel.

"I would hope that my flight would help, if just to make space flight more routine," Olsen said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on the eve of the flight.

...At a preflight news conference with cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and astronaut William McArthur, Olsen said he preferred the term "space flight participant" to "space tourist."

"'Tourism' implies that anyone can just write a check and go up there. That's not what happened," he told the AP.

...After blasting off, the space craft will rendezvous in two days with the station floating 250 miles above the Earth. Olsen, Tokarev and McArthur will bring cargo aboard and perform experiments.

He'll be up there until next Spring.

Apparently Olsen's presence onboard isn't just as a tourist, but as an experimenter.  I don't know just how much of that he plans to do.  But it is clear that he's not part of the space program, and that's good enough for me.

However, the story also mentions this:

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said a 2000 U.S. law banning space station-related payments to Russia because Moscow helped Iran build a nuclear plant "could end a continuous American presence" on the station.

I would have worded that a bit differently:  "The fact that Russia is building a nuclear plant in Iran, capable of providing Iran with weapons-grade materials, was the reason for a 2000 law banning space station-related payments to Russia."

Then, buried much deeper into the article, is this:

Russia has made it clear that it expects the United States to make payment or some sort of capital investment in exchange for future U.S. participation on Russian flights.

However, the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 penalizes countries that sell unconventional weapons and missile technology to Iran. Russia is building an $800 million nuclear power plant in Iran despite U.S objections that this could help Tehran build atomic bombs.

"Could help," my eyeball.  It "will help" with the only aspect of building a nuclear weapon that, so far, has been beyond the abilities of terrorist-sponsoring nations.  No question.  And no more will it be beyond their capabilities.

The U.S. Senate agreed unanimously last week to amend the law, lifting the ban on NASA purchases of Soyuz seats until 2012. The House has yet to act on the measure.

Write your Representative.  Or Israel will write them for you, via special-delivery to Iran itself.