As US businesswoman Anousheh Ansari prepares to take off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome next month, Russian engineers are busy making modifications. "A woman's organism is different, that's why we need to modify some of the life systems in the capsule," said Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of the RKK Energia space corporation.

The changes are being made mainly to the toilet, and anonymous spokesperson said.

Ansari is taking the place of Japan's Daisuke Enomoto, who failed a medical exam earlier this month. The seat that was specially made for Enomoto will also be replaced.

Ansari will join Russian Mikhail Tyurin and fellow American Michael Lopez-Alegria on the journey. They are currently taking final tests this week at the Star City training centre near Moscow.

35-year-old Internet tycoon Daisuke Enomoto (affectionately known as "Dice-K") has been found physically unfit for space travel by Russian doctors and will not be traveling into orbit next month. Enomoto (above, left) would have paid $20 million USD for a flight to the International Space Station. He has been training for the trip for several months. A self-confessed "cartoon geek," Enomoto's dream was to look down upon the planet dressed as one of his favorite cartoon characters, an ace pilot from an animated Japanese TV series.

Igor Panarin, spokesman for the space agency Roskosmos said "It is not ruled out that after additional measures are taken, he could fly in the future. But this will take time." Anousheh Ansari, a U.S. sponsor of the $10 million X Prize for private spaceflight awarded in 2004 is the most likely candidate to take Enomoto's place on the Soyuz flight.

The first space tourist was US millionaire Dennis Tito in 2001. He was followed  by South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002 and US businessman Greg Olsen in 2005.

Space Tourism sure is definitely on a full-swing, as it gains popularity among those who can particularly afford it. From businessmen to pop stars (remember Lance Bass of N'sync?), we just might soon have the first female space tourist.

US Entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari - who's been speculated months ago to possibly be the first female space tourist - has her eyes set on a possible 2008 flight to the International Space Station (ISS). She has spent the last few months training as a backup spaceflyer for Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto for its September 14 launch. The Japanese tycoon is reportedly paying $20 million for a 10-day roundtrip to the orbital laboratory.

Keeping in mind that she needs all the preparation she can get for her awaited mission, Ansari gladly jumped at the opportunity offered to her by Space Adventures officials to be Enomoto's backup. “I’m mentally prepared to do that and it would be a great personal experience,” says Ansari on her being a backup. But inasmuch as it may give her that one step closer to her goal of setting off to space, she would rather bide her time, and just do the necessary preparations for her trip. “But for my flight I have a lot of projects that I’d like to do, and if I fly now that means that none of those projects would be there."

U.S. businessman and former Microsoft software developer Charles Simonyi goes ahead Ansari in the exclusive list of space tourists after signing a contract with Russian space officials to fly toward the ISS in Spring 2007, which would be on the next Soyuz to fly after Enomoto launches with the ISS Expedition 14 Crew.

If they have $20 million to burn for a trip to the International Space Station (ISS), then maybe they'd want to spend $15 million more to take a walk outside of the ISS.

This $15M spacewalk will now be an option for tourists to the ISS. It will be a 90-minute spacewalk outside of the Russian modules which will be accompanied by a Russian cosmonaut.

Three civilians have already paid their way to the ISS via a Russian Soyuz rocket. These trips have been organized by Space Adventures of US, Virginia and Vienna, and in cooperation with Rocket Space Corporation Energia and the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Space tourists who are going to avail of this new option are not expected to do any work on the ISS unlike those trained astronauts on previous spacewalks conducted. They will be outside of the ISS just to experience what it's like to really be in space, and they will even be allowed to bring with them a video or still camera.

But even with all the news about this $15M spacewalk circulating, NASA doesn't have a comment about it yet as they still haven't had confirmation about selling spacewalks. This new option for space tourists will also be causing delay on the return of some astronauts aboard the Soyuz because the spacewalk would lengthen the stay of the tourists on the ISS.

Those who have signed up for the $20M commercial space flight are Daisuke Enomoto, an internet entrepreneur, and Charles Simonyi, former developer at Microsoft in Washington. No news so far if these two people will be taking the $15M spacewalk option.

Seems like I'm still in the running to be the first woman in space. Space Adventures officially confirmed yesterday that the world's fourth space tourist will be a man, Japanese entrepreneur Daisuke 'Dice-K' Enomoto. X-Prize sponsor Anouseh Ansari will be his official back-up, which puts her in line to become the world's first female space tourist.

Both Enomoto and Ansari are undergoing training at the Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center (also known as 'Star City'). According to Space Adventures President and CEO Eric Andersen, "Their training is going great so far and they're both fantastic clients."

Enomoto will be joining the 14th Expedition Crew, which will also include NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin. Their flight is tentatively scheduled for a September 15th launch.

Aside from Ansari, the backup crew for the Soyuz TMA-9 mission are NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.

Ansari will still have a chance to go down the history books as the first female space tourist even if Enomoto makes his flight. Anderson says there is a possibility for Ansari to fly on a future mission. As he adds, "If and when Anousheh decides to fly on an orbital mission, we will be very proud to announce that".

Space Adventures, the first company to launch private (and filthy rich!) citizens to space, recently announced their plans to amp their services by buying Fountain Valley, California Space Launch Corp. The spaceflight experience firm, who will send you to the International Space Station (ISS) for a hefty sum of money, said that the planned merger will bring valuable technology and expertise to the table for future missions and projects.

When asked on why they chose to purchase Fountain Valley, Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson's reply was "it certainly has technologies that are very applicable to commercial human spaceflight."

The California-based Technology Firm is not short on experience, in 2003, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency tapped the said California firm to draw up plans for its air-launched Responsive Access, Small Cargo, Affordable Launch (RASCAL) program. Unfortunately, the RASCAL program was cancelled last year.

Space Adventures is currently working with Houston-based firm Prodea to develop and sell a fleet of air-launched explorer suborbital spacecraft, and also works hand-in-hand with UAE's and Singapore's planned spaceports. Also, they have announced around the Moon trips aboard the Russian-made aircraft, Soyuz. Aside from that, they also offer fighter jet rides as well as aircraft flights that simulate weightlessness for thrill-seeking customers.

As for the next launch of their orbit-bound passenger, Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto, for now its all systems go for the September 15 launch. He is set to ride a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS with the ISS Expedition 14 astronaut crew. Rumor has it that the space tourists paid around $20M for their 10-day space flights.