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American Morning

Is Tourism the Future of Space Travel?

Aired April 27, 2001 - 10:23   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: California billionaire Dennis Tito's visit to the international space station could pave the way for more civilians in space. Our next guest thinks that is a good idea. He says he helped arrange Tito's space deal. We welcome Rick Tumlinson. He is president and co-founder of the Space Frontier Foundation, joining us from Los Angeles.

Rick, good morning. Good to see you.

RICK TUMLINSON, SPACE FRONTIER FOUNDATION: Good morning. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing just fine. Tell us about the first time you met Dennis Tito and how you share this interest in space.

TUMLINSON: Well, I had been working with the Mir Corp. company, that was operating the Mir commercially during the last year of its life and I had given a talk at a space tourism event, found out that a fellow in the audience was interested in going and after a few months of going back and forth between the company and some other people involved, I sort of went in myself and met with him.

And when I walked into the room, I realized this was a fellow who was already space oriented. Mr. Tito worked at JPL back in the '70s and, you know, I'm very excited for him. He is a fellow who may not have gone down the traditional path to get into space, but he's used his own skills and his own abilities to come to a...

KAGAN: And his own money.

TUMLINSON: And his own money.

KAGAN: $20 million.

TUMLINSON: Which he earned, you know, and built up himself, and sort of the total free enterprise American dream, as it were.

KAGAN: Rick, clearly there are people, especially within NASA, who don't think it's a good idea at this time for somebody like Dennis Tito to be on board the international space station. Why do you think it is a good idea?

TUMLINSON: Well, first of all, if they hadn't taken out the Mir, he would be going there, as originally planned. I joke with my friends at NASA at times and say, you know, well, you got rid of the Mir and now those nasty commercial people are knocking on your door. The fact is that they do have a good argument. Their, it is an unfinished federal facility, which is very different from a commercial facility, and, in fact, in a way they are giving him a privilege by letting him fly.

But he is flying aboard a Russian vehicle to a Russian module and that is their sovereign territory so they should be allowed to do it. It's been sort of bloody behind-the-scenes but I think once he gets up there it's going to be all smiles and handshakes.

KAGAN: Yes, well beyond that, beyond the politics behind-the- scenes, why do you think it is a good idea to have a civilian on board the international space station at this point in time?

TUMLINSON: Well, I think that it's important that we understand what we're doing in space and why we're doing it. After all, isn't the point of exploring space to open it up to the people? Mr. Tito just happens to be one of the first to pay his own way up there. I think if the space agencies of the world were smart, given the fact that they've run out of money on the station, that they would work with commercial firms to help, shall we say, create hotel rooms and facilities and ways of formally handling this kind of visitation.

KAGAN: But what about the critics who say that's a great idea for the future, but right now there's so much to be done up there that everybody has to have a purpose and somebody like Dennis Tito is really just dead weight and taking up space when really they need people working up there at this point in time?

TUMLINSON: The fact is that the Soyuz taxi flight he's on comes with an extra seat and NASA for years has been encouraging the Russians to do something with that seat. They're very cash strapped. The amount of money he's paying, somewhere around $20 million, is very significant to them and Congress has bound NASA's hands from sending anymore cash into the Russian space program. So this is a great way to help them stay funded.

KAGAN: Real quickly, your dream that one day we'll all be able to book a flight like Dennis Tito, all of us who want to?

TUMLINSON: Absolutely. You know, it's not about the money here. It's about all the people who grew up on the dream of going into space themselves and the fact that he's paying a lot of money now, hey, it's like high-def television. The rich buy it first, then the price comes down and you and I will eventually get to go.

KAGAN: Well, I would just like to have his frequent flier miles. I'll take, I'll settle for that. Rick Tumlinson, thanks for stopping by. Appreciate it.

TUMLINSON: Thank you very much.

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