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CNN Live Today

Space Training Halted for Bass

Aired September 03, 2002 -   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Moscow, we have a problem. The Russian space agency has halted cosmonaut training for pop singer Lance Bass, saying the 'NSYNC star has not paid the bill for his space tourist venture.
Our Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty, is tracking the story and she joins us from Moscow with the latest -- Jill, good morning and good afternoon to you in Moscow.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Daryn the Russians are saying -- good afternoon. The Russians are saying Lance Bass is grounded, he is not going to the International Space Station, and the big issue, of course, is money. The reported $20 million for that ticket to the International Space Station. They say simply, the organizers who are trying to pull this deal together don't have the money, and they haven't handed over a dime or a kopek since all of this began. Therefore, he is not going to be training, and he is not going to be going to the ISS.

However, they do say that that space trip is still going to take place on October 28th, and there will be two men in it, a Russian and a Belgian, but in the place of Lance Bass, they say, there is going to be a cargo container with equipment and some gear for the crew.

However, from the other side, the Lance Bass people, whose agent, Cindy Owens (ph), tells CNN that that is not correct, that this deal is not dead, that it is still going ahead, and she says they are involved in what she called "final negotiations," that they are confident that Lance will fly, and that he will be back in training on Friday. So again, the Russians are saying we simply can't wait anymore, and it is bye-bye Lance Bass.

KAGAN: It sounds like they are actually even ticked that they were strung along this time, Jill.

DOUGHERTY: Well, this has been bouncing back and forth every couple of weeks. It seems the deal is falling apart, and the Russians say look, we gave them a lot of slack, we have pushed back deadlines, but we want to see the money, and we haven't seen the money, and there comes a fish or cut bait time where you simply have to say it is not going to go forward. So they are saying this is that moment. However, as you can see, the Lance Bass people still say that somehow, they are going to pull this together.

KAGAN: They still have a dream. Jill Dougherty in Moscow, thank you so much. Want to get the behind-the-scenes look at what this means from the space side, so we are bringing our space guy in, Miles O'Brien -- Miles, you know, it was a nice dream, a 23-year-old would have been the youngest guy in space, Russians would have gotten some good pub, yet it looks like it is not to happen.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: You know, this is such a strange meeting of the worlds. You are talking about Hollywood people, kind of the Spago crowd, meeting the Moscow people, the space city crowd.

And it is just -- it is Byzantine (ph) and it is bluster -- Byzantine (ph) meets bluster, and you end up with a complete hall of mirrors, which is what we have been in for the past several weeks, deadline after deadline passing, no money produced by the Lance Bass people, the Holly contingent that is trying to support this deal, the Russians continuing to say, All right, one more week, comrade. Let's let him try one more time, because number one, they have no viable alternative for this flight at the end of October, to raise the money which they need so dearly, and number two, quite frankly, they are enjoying the publicity.

The Russians have learned a few lessons of capitalism along the way, and they do understand the marketing value of at least stringing along Lance Bass.

Sure enough, we are talking about this right now, and perhaps there is some billionaire out there listening right now, thinking, I really could take the pocket change off of my dresser, that would add up to about 20 million, and off to the ISS I go.

KAGAN: Let's see -- you could donate it for a cure for cancer, or you could send lance bass.

I couldn't believe until this morning, hearing the numbers, Miles, he is not short, he really has not paid anything, 200,000 when you have to come up with 20 million.

O'BRIEN: Yes, that was just Radio Shack produced $200,000 to get him in the initial training. That was enough -- that plus the fact that he was Lance Bass and there was -- this. All of this got the Russians all excited, star dust in their eyes, spiky hair, choreography of a prodigious nature. You know, what can I tell you? How do you top this stuff. The Russians got swept away by the whole thing somewhat, and the bottom line was by the time they probably realized this wasn't going to come together, it was too late. It was too late to go out and sell that seat to somebody else, and so they said, hey, let's string him along, what have we got to lose? Maybe he will come up with the money. In the meantime, we are enjoying a little bit of press.

KAGAN: Yes. I understand a big box of cargo is going in his seat instead.

O'BRIEN: Yes. KAGAN: But I wonder about this -- $20 million, is that what it really costs to send somebody up into space? Maybe the Russians could have cut him even a better deal...

O'BRIEN: No, and that is at the heart and soul of why this has gone on, because the Hollywood contingent, the Spago crowd, has been asking for a cut rate deal as it goes along, and their theory is, the longer you wait, the more the Russians will be in the mood to deal. There might be some truth to that, and the truth of the matter is, that some of these flights have gone for less than 20 million, which is the public price. The truth of the matter is that some of these people have been paying in the teens, so it is a deal. And now are you going, right?

KAGAN: Me?

O'BRIEN: Yes.

KAGAN: No, I stay on the team. I am sending you up into space. You deserve to be the first journalist in space.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's start passing the hat.

KAGAN: A story for another day. Miles O'Brien, thank you so much.

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