Russia will send the Malaysian astronaut, thought to be a 34-year-old doctor, on board a Soyuz carrier rocket to the International Space Station as part of a $900-million contract signed in 2003 to supply the Asian country with 18 Russian multipurpose Su-30MKM air superiority fighters.
"We are planning to sign a final contract on the scientific program for the Malaysian astronaut," Alexei Krasnov said. "This contract will allow us to start training two Malaysian astronauts, one of whom will be sent to the International Space Station next year."
The astronaut and his backup were originally scheduled to arrive in Russia for training in late September.
Krasnov also said Russia and NASA would soon reach an agreement on sending U.S. astronauts to the ISS in the future.
"We all live in the real world, and the space industry is also not in a vacuum, and we fully depend on global prices," Krasnov said, adding that prices for spacecraft components had grown dramatically in the last two years.
The official said that the price for commercial space flights would go up as well reaching $21.8 million. Four space tourists have paid about $20 million for the pleasure of spending a week in on the orbital station, but the Russian official said the worldly problem of inflation was driving up prices.
"The price for the flights of space tourists will also increase," Krasnov said, adding that each tourist flight deal is discussed individually and is considered a commercial secret.
The latest space tourist Anousheh Ansari, 40, an Iranian born American businesswoman, returned to Earth early Friday after paying around $20 million for about eight days in space.
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