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Japanese Space Tourist Grounded After Failing Medical Test
Moscow (AFP) Aug 21, 2006 Japan's first would-be space tourist, Daisuke Enomoto, has failed a medical test and will not be allowed to travel to space next month as scheduled, a Russian space agency official said Monday. "He didn't pass his medical test and he will not be able to fly in September," Igor Panarin, a spokesman for Roskosmos, told AFP. Panarin declined to provide details on the failed medical exam, saying the information was "confidential". Enomoto, 35, who made his fortune in the Internet business, agreed to pay nearly 20 million dollars (15.5 million euros) to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) and has been undergoing intensive training in Russia for months. "It is not ruled out that after additional measures are taken, he could fly in the future. But this will take time," Panarin said. Enomoto, a self-confessed Japanese cartoon geek, said earlier he wanted to gaze down at the Earth dressed as an ace pilot from a hit animation series. His place on the Soyuz capsule taking off on September 14 from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will "probably" be taken by US national Anousheh Ansari, Panarin said. If that is the case, the 38-year-old entrepreneur, who has been training as a stand-in for Enomoto, would be the first female space tourist. US millionaire Dennis Tito was the first tourist to travel in space in 2001, followed by South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002 and US businessman Greg Olsen in 2005. Olsen was also rejected by the Russian space agency for health reasons in June 2004 before his trip was finally authorised at the end of 2005. The agency rejected US singer Lance Bass in 2002 for failing to pay for his training at a cosmonaut preparation centre near Moscow.
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Scientists Study Pioneer Anomalies
Los Alamos (UPI) Aug 17, 2006U.S. scientists say mysterious changes in acceleration seen in NASA's Pioneer 10 and 11 space probes might point toward new ideas in physics. During the 1980s, NASA researchers noticed the Pioneer 11 spacecraft was slowing more quickly than expected as it neared the edge of the solar system. |
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