Tycoon Plans to Convert Mir into a Resort
S A N F R A N C I S C O, Jan. 13, 2000 -- A U.S. tycoon is pumping millions of dollars into a plan to save Russia’s Mir space station, hoping to transform the empty outpost into an orbiting business park and a vacation resort for highfliers.
Walt Anderson, a Washington-based venture capitalist who has made a fortune in telecommunications companies, has put up $7 million and plans to spend another $14 million to lease the 14-year-old station and renovate it for a money-making venture, business associates of Anderson’s said today.
Anderson’s investment is being channeled through his Bermuda-based holding company Gold & Appel, with the final paperwork due to be completed by the end of the month, the associates said.
A new company, Mir Corp. Ltd., will be formed by Anderson along with other, unnamed investors and the Russian space company RSC Energia, which owns the empty station.
The new company, which will be based in a yet-to-be-determined third country, will take charge of the project, said Jeffrey Manber, former managing director of RSC Energia’s U.S. division and president of Mir Corp.
“There have been other, previous efforts (to save Mir) which have not been very serious. This is an extremely serious effort and we want to be very careful,” Manber told Reuters in an interview, stressing that the final deal with the Russians had yet to be signed.
“We believe that if we are successful, the renovation of Mir will be one of the great undertakings of the century,” Manber said. “People worldwide will share in the pleasure and the drama of keeping the Mir open for business. But the challenges ahead are great.”
‘Deorbiting’ Was in Works If it works, the plan to save Mir will have come just in time. The station, deserted since the last Russian cosmonauts left in August 1999, was slated to be “deorbited” and crashed into the Pacific Ocean unless officials could come up with funds to keep it in space.
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