Space passenger Olsen to pull his own weight

In contrast with the years of training that professional astronauts go through, Olsen has trained for only six months at Star City. When asked why he was taking such a big risk on spaceflight with such limited training, Olsen replied, “I don’t view it as a risk at all. It’s a very exciting experience. I’ve got one of the best crews there ever were. … It’s been a privilege for me to train with them.”

His crewmates returned the compliment.

“He’s never been a pilot, but the fact that he’s an engineer brings a lot to our team,” Tokarev said.

“He has proven to be a tremendous asset in our training,” McArthur said. “He isn’t trained differently. He certainly has less extensive training than Valery and I have. But at the same time, in our simulations … we’ve found that having a third set of hands to perform various tasks truly makes us significantly more effective. We’re really looking forward to having Greg in space with us.”

Medical problem caused delays
Olsen actually began training more than a year ago, but Russian doctors disqualified him shortly after he started because "something turned up in a test," he told MSNBC.com. Although Olsen has not publicized the precise nature of the medical condition, he said it faded away by itself, only three months after he went back home. Follow-up tests persuaded the Russian medical team to let him resume training in May, after a gap of nearly a year.

He said about 35 friends and family members, including his 4 1/2-year-old grandson, are due to attend the launch at Baikonur. It will take almost two days for the Soyuz to reach the space station, orbiting 225 miles (350 kilometers) above the earth.

Once he gets there, Olsen doesn’t intend to just sit around and just look out the window —although that is part of the appeal of the voyage. He’s already set up to participate in three biological experiments for the European Space Agency, focusing on bacteria growth, lower back pain and how spaceflight upsets the vestibular system of the inner ear. He'll also be using video and still cameras to record the sights, and participate in ham-radio and video downlinks.

What’s more, he still hopes to bring up a spectrometer built by students at the University of Virginia, with components from his own company. The spectrometer hasn’t yet been cleared for takeoff, due to U.S. export restrictions. If officials can cut through the red tape by launch time, Olsen would use the instrument to analyze moisture levels in vegetation on Earth as well as the chemical content of clouds.

“If I’m lucky, I’ll have a lot to do,” Olsen told reporters.

Does astronaut have a return ticket?
McArthur and NASA, meanwhile, have their own red tape to deal with: Russia’s agreement to provide free rides to U.S. astronauts is due to lapse after next month’s launch, but currently, the Iran Nonproliferation Act would bar NASA from paying the Russians for future flights on Soyuz craft.

To get around the problem, NASA plans to bring McArthur back to Earth on a space shuttle next spring, but if future flights are delayed due to Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath or other problems, he could find himself without a shuttle ride.

Negotiations over the issue are continuing, and there have been some hints that provisions of the act may be waived to let NASA purchase seats on future Soyuz craft.

Russian officials were repeatedly asked whether there was a chance that McArthur could be marooned aboard the station when his six-month stint was over, but Nikolai Sevastianov, head of the Energia rocket company that makes the Soyuz spaceships, brushed off such concerns.

“Of course he’ll come back on the Soyuz if the shuttle is not ready,” he said.

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