Marina Vasilevskaya would return to Earth on April 6. Her flight is not a kind of tourist trip into orbit. It is of great importance for astronautics and the country of Belarus, Peter Petrovsky said on Alfa Radio on March 27, 2024.
“Belarus has truly become a power with its space program. And not just space one. Because, anyway, every country can buy a ticket and launch its space tourist. But there is a difference: flying as a tourist and performing a specific research mission,” the political scientist stated.
In fact, space tourists are also allowed to conduct research in orbit. For example, the world's second space tourist, South African millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, who flew to the ISS in 2002, studied the interaction of immune cells in microgravity conditions and conducted experiments related to stem cells and the effects of microgravity on the human body.
In 2021, Russian spacecraft delivered two Japanese tourists to the ISS, who paid about $80 million for the flight. They took part in a study of blood microcirculation in microgravity conditions for Oryol State University. On the ISS, they also completed tests to study human health and performance, in cooperation with the Houston Institute for Translational Health in Space.
Thus, conducting scientific research does not differentiate a tourist from an astronaut.