MOSCOW (AP) -- A British businessman has agreed to pay $100 million for a weeklong ride on Russia's Mir space station, giving the aging outpost a new lease on life, Russian officials said today.
But a spokesman for the nation's top space authority expressed doubts, saying the deal may collapse like many previous attempts to raise private funds to keep the Mir aloft.Peter Llewelyn, 51, signed an agreement for the August flight with the state-controlled RKK Energia company, which runs the Mir, said Energia's spokesman Sergei Gromov.
He said the agreement had been signed over the weekend and the money would be transferred to Energia soon.
Gromov said Llewelyn lives in the United States, is married and has two children, but would not give further details.
Llewelyn will fly to the Mir in a Soyuz rocket accompanied by two Russian cosmonauts. After a week in space, he will return to Earth with the Mir's current crew, Gromov said.
If the deal works, it would be a big relief for Russian space officials and cosmonauts, who are eager to extend the lifetime of the Mir -- the last symbol of the nation's fading space glory.
The Russian government has said it would only pay for the Mir through the end of August. It would then abandon the station unless private investors come up with new money. Space officials have repeatedly claimed that they had found unidentified investors, but the deals have crumbled each time.
Llewelyn's contribution would cover about half of the Mir's annual maintenance costs.