<P> With the realities of the post-Perestroika economy in Russia, its space industry was especially starved for cash . The Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) offered to pay for one of its reporters to fly on a mission . For $28 million, Toyohiro Akiyama was flown in 1990 to Mir with the eighth crew and returned a week later with the seventh crew . Akiyama gave a daily TV broadcast from orbit and also performed scientific experiments for Russian and Japanese companies . However, since the cost of the flight was paid by his employer, Akiyama could be considered a business traveler rather than a tourist . </P> <P> In 1991, British chemist Helen Sharman was selected from a pool of 13,000 applicants to be the first Briton in space . The program was known as Project Juno and was a cooperative arrangement between the Soviet Union and a group of British companies . The Project Juno consortium failed to raise the funds required, and the program was almost cancelled . Reportedly Mikhail Gorbachev ordered it to proceed under Soviet expense in the interests of international relations, but in the absence of Western underwriting, less expensive experiments were substituted for those in the original plans . Sharman flew aboard Soyuz TM - 12 to Mir and returned aboard Soyuz TM - 11 . </P> <P> At the end of the 1990s, MirCorp, a private venture that was by then in charge of the space station, began seeking potential space tourists to visit Mir in order to offset some of its maintenance costs . Dennis Tito, an American businessman and former JPL scientist, became their first candidate . When the decision to de-orbit Mir was made, Tito managed to switch his trip to the International Space Station (ISS) through a deal between MirCorp and US - based Space Adventures, Ltd., despite strong opposition from senior figures at NASA; from the beginning of the ISS expeditions, NASA stated it wasn't interested in space guests . Nonetheless, Dennis Tito visited the ISS on April 28, 2001, and stayed for seven days, becoming the first "fee - paying" space tourist . He was followed in 2002 by South African computer millionaire Mark Shuttleworth . The third was Gregory Olsen in 2005, who was trained as a scientist and whose company produced specialist high - sensitivity cameras . Olsen planned to use his time on the ISS to conduct a number of experiments, in part to test his company's products . Olsen had planned an earlier flight, but had to cancel for health reasons . The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Committee On Science of the House of Representatives held on June 26, 2001 reveals the shifting attitude of NASA towards paying space tourists wanting to travel to the ISS . The hearing's purpose was to, "Review the issues and opportunities for flying nonprofessional astronauts in space, the appropriate government role for supporting the nascent space tourism industry, use of the Shuttle and Space Station for Tourism, safety and training criteria for space tourists, and the potential commercial market for space tourism". The subcommittee report was interested in evaluating Dennis Tito's extensive training and his experience in space as a nonprofessional astronaut . </P> <P> By 2007, space tourism was thought to be one of the earliest markets that would emerge for commercial spaceflight . However, as of 2014 this private exchange market has not emerged to any significant extent . </P>

When did the first tourist travel into space