Orlando Sentinel September 4, 2002
'N Sync star will not go on mission, Russians say
By Tamara Lytle
WASHINGTON --
As of Tuesday, pop star Lance Bass was a man without a mission.
Fedup Russian space officials said Bass and the consortium backing his flight to the international space station hadn't paid up, so he no longer can continue training in Star City, Russia, for the Oct. 27 mission.
Hollywood handlers for Bass, a singer with 'N Sync, said they still were negotiating and hadn't given up making him the world's youngest person in space.
Television producer David Krieff of Destiny Productions had landed commitments from sponsors such as Radio Shack, and has planned a television show about the trip. But Krieff had offered little more than promises when it came time to paying the $20 million bill, disgruntled officials from the Russian space agency said.
"It's over," said Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the Russian space agency, Rosaviakosmos. He said Bass was officially notified "about the end of his training . . . and the impossibility of his trip to the international space station."
"His sponsors didn't fulfill the conditions of the contract, and we never received the money," Gorbunov said.
Instead of sending up a telegenic singer who promised to promote space exploration among the young, the Russians said they will launch a crate of equipment weighing the same as Bass.
Bass was to blast off on a Soyuz spacecraft as the third space tourist after wealthy businessmen Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth. The Soyuz makes the trip to the space station twice a year to replace a lifecraft docked there. The cashed-strapped Russians came up with the idea of sending one commercial passenger on each of those trips as a way to keep their program afloat.
The international partners in the space station had approved Bass' trip, and he had even trained for a week in Houston, alongside cosmonaut Sergei Zalyotin and Belgian astronaut Frank DeWinne. But Tuesday, Bass was forced to pack his bags at the cosmonaut training center and move to a nearby hotel.
NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said the agency had not been notified by Russian officials of Bass' ouster.
The flight will go on with or without Bass, Jacobs said. "He had no critical role in terms of the mission itself," Jacobs said, although NASA was looking forward to Bass promoting space exploration among young people.
Spokesmen for Bass and Krieff sang the same tune they have been singing for weeks: They are still working out the deal and feel sure Bass will get his ride.
"The trip is not over. Lance is in Russia, and we are still in negotiations. We feel very confident that there will be a resolution soon and the trip will go on as planned," said Jill Fritzo, publicist for the 23-year-old singer.
"It really is calling his and his sponsor's bluff," space expert John Logsdon said. 'It's not surprising their patience is being exhausted."
Logsdon and John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, both said it's unclear whether the Russian announcement Tuesday is the final "nyet" or just a negotiating strategy.
Pike said Bass' failure to raise the money doesn't bode well for Lori Garver, who calls herself "AstroMom" and is trying to raise money to take a trip to the space station next spring. "It's hard to see how anyone is going to make it if [Bass] can't get sponsors," Pike said.
But wealthy individuals still will want the ride of a lifetime, said Pike, who worries the program is turning space exploration into a circus sideshow.
"If the Lord had meant us to fly in space, we would have all been born rich."
Wire services were used in compiling this report. Tamara Lytle can be reached at tlytle@tribune.com or 202-824-8255.
Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel
