Space Adventures to Name Next Tourist

The Soyuz TMA-16 will provide a ride to the International Space Station September 30 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome for an unamed Canadian space flight participant (space tourist), a business entrepreneur, to be named on Thursday, June 4, 2009, 9 AM EDT at press conferences in Moscow and Montreal, according to Space Adventures, Ltd. of Virginia.

This may be the last of the space tourist flights until 2012 when the Russians have agreed to launch space tourists two-at-a-time. NASA has contracted additional seats on the Soyuz into 2012 as the space shuttle is retired.

Soyuz TMA-16 will be commanded by Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev and American flight engineer Jeff Williams, who together will join the Expedition 21 crew on the space station.