Mystery of Missing ‘Space Tourists’ explained!

Mystery of Missing ‘Space Tourists’ explained

 

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The announcement, on May 13th, of the crew of the first double-tourist Soyuz spaceflight, Soyuz MS-20, caused some surprise, when neither of the expected candidates were named by space tourism provider Space Adventures.

The Space Sleuthing Blog previously reported that the space tourists on Soyuz MS-20 would be Japanese singer, Yumi Matsutoya, and Austrian pilot Johanna Maislinger, who has been a client at Space Adventures since 2017.

Instead, Space Adventures and Roscosmos, announced that the billionaire behind the proposed DearMoon Project, Yusaku Maezawa, would take the flight to the International Space Station, prior to the manned lunar fly-by, accompanied by his assistant Yozo Hirano.

This development caught ‘space-watchers’ by surprise, particularly, as if Maezawa wanted to make such a ‘dry run’ to low Earth orbit, a trip on a SpaceX Crew Dragon would have seemed a more logical choice. However, as NASA have said recently, docking port availability at the ISS is an issue, and it seems likely that Maezawa has taken the Soyuz option, in order to fly sooner than would have been possible with SpaceX.

 

Previously, Yumi Matsutoya’s name had been linked to the flight when her name was included on documents drawn up on the Russian side, alongside the otherwise unknown Yozo Hirano, in late 2020. It now looks probable that her name was used in an effort to conceal Maezawa’s name, as he presumably wished for his identity to be concealed, until the last possible moment. It is notable that Matsutoya and Maezawa share the same initials, YM, in both English and Russian, which may be why her name was chosen for the ruse.

Regarding Johanna Maislinger, a Boeing 777 captain, she had claimed to be raising her own funding and sponsorship for the Soyuz trip, and had boasted back in 2017 that 'money and media support will be no problem'. 

Regardless of how realistic that claim was, she would clearly have been financially out-gunned by the wealth of the Japanese billionaire, particularly when he decided to buy both Soyuz seats. Space Adventures have no further Soyuz flights booked until 2023.

 

In May 2021, information emanated from one of the ISS partner agencies that  revealed, that in early 2021, they were advised that Maislinger had failed to secure sufficient funding for her spaceflight. However, she was being lined-up up to undertake cosmonaut training in Russia, and then to serve as a back-up to a future Soyuz space tourist. Roscosmos has to get clearance from their International partners for any potential crew members on visiting Soyuz missions, including back-ups, so Maislinger’s credentials appear to have been circulated as part of this process.

Sources in Russia had suggested that Yusaku Maezawa would have a 'non-flying' back-up, similar to previous Space Adventures clients in 2008, 2009 and 2015, when three different people trained as part of a back-up crew, but with no realistic prospect of replacing prime crew member, in the event of a serious problem.

Of course, training as a back-up is a much cheaper option than flying, so this seemed to be a more realistic option for Maislinger. 

During the Medical Commission, in May, where the prime crew of Soyuz MS-20 (and also MS-19 were confirmed) a third Japanese citizen was also approved for spaceflight. He was Shun Ogiso, the PR Director of the Dear Moon Project. Ogiso is understood to be a potential back-up for Yozo Hirano. 

However, there was no fourth candidate presented for approval, leaving the question of Maezawa’s back-up, and Maislinger’s fate, at that point, still unclear.

In July 2021, a representative of the Moscow office of Space Adventures finally confirmed that Maislinger never had the financial support required, and had never been treated as a serious candidate for the Soyuz flight. 

Despite this, between June and December 2020, they had included her name on lists of potential clients submitted regularly to Roscosmos. The most likely scenario is that, by this stage, Maislinger was still hanging onto the believe that she could raise the money, and was enjoying seeing her name, and photograph, being widely quoted, as a potential Space Tourist. 

Copyright Tony Quine May 2021 (Updated August 2021)