Space Adventures Offering Space Tourists Trips to ISS in 2013

Space Adventures will be offer space tourists three seats on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft traveling to the International Space Station every year, beginning in 2013.  

The American space tourism company has signed an agreement with the Russian Space Federation and Energia, the designers of Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, to offer this service.  

Each flight on the Soyuz will last for about ten days.

Russia stopped allowing tourists on the Soyuz in 2009. That year, Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque de Soleil, became the last space tourist so far to fly to the ISS on board the Soyuz.

Because the US space shuttle is retiring this year, Soyuz has to take on a greater workload than ever before.

 The last scheduled US space shuttle flight will be in April 2010.

In 2013, however, Russia will be increasing Soyuz production from four to five spacecraft every year, which means that there will be extra room for space tourists.