Russia's First Private Space Tourism Craft Flight Test Set for 2020

First flight tests of Russia's reusable suborbital space tourism craft are slated for 2020, the head of the company that is spearheading the effort told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Pavel Pushkin, director of CosmoCourse company, said the spacecraft's production is funded by a private investor. It is expected to be launched from a Russian cosmodrome and conduct space tours at an altitude of 100 kilometers (62 miles).

"The start of flight tests is scheduled for 2019-2020," Pushkin said.

Potential space tourists would be admitted to the private spaceflight program after three-day training and medical examination.

"Space tourists will be offered a 15-minute flight in a group of six tourists. Each will be in a state of weightlessness inside a cabin with a total volume of 30 square meters [320 square feet]," Pushkin said.

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