The world's first space tourist, American Mr Dennis Tito, blasts off from Earth in a Russian rocket today to face a chill reception aboard the international space station from Americans angry about the trip.
With computers and communications on the station still malfunctioning, NASA says the last thing it needs is the arrival of a tourist. But Russian officials say the trip by Mr Tito and two fellow cosmonauts cannot be stopped. "We are ready 99 per cent," said Mr Yuri Simonev, chief of the Soyuz rocket project that will carry him into orbit.
"There will not be any delay."
Mr Tito, a 61-year-old American, who is paying Russia £13 million for the trip, will also win the distinction as the oldest person to venture into space when his craft blasts off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.
"I am very happy," he said in a press conference with his fellow cosmonauts. "The flight is ahead of us and the excitement it will generate will overshadow any problems."
Mr Tito had originally planned to fly to Russia's ageing space station, Mir, but to save money Moscow decided to bring the station down earlier this year. Instead, Russia has sent him to the International Space Station, in which it is an equal partner with the US.
But the trip has left NASA, which pays the lion's share of the station's cost, smarting, in particular because officials think both sides should act in consensus.
For Russia's cash-strapped space industry, Mr Tito's cash is a windfall. Ordinary Russians are delighted that the nation which launched the first man, the first woman and the first dog into space is now launching the first tourist.
NASA does not share this enthusiasm. It had objected to Mr Tito's arrival, dropping its complaints only to avoid a head-on collision with the Russians. NASA says tourists should not come on to a station still under construction, but Russia says that, after many hours of training, Mr Tito is virtually a qualified cosmonaut. US shuttle flight director Mr Phil Engelauf said the arrival of the Russian Soyuz means the US craft must leave, to avoid the Russian ship coming "dangerously close" when it docks today.
Mr Tito said NASA agreed to his coming aboard only when he promised to spend most of his time on the Russian part of the station, venturing into the American part only under escort. He has promised not to touch any of the equipment, and as a final measure, has signed a waiver for NASA that he will pay for any breakages.
This has provoked much mirth in Moscow. "Right now this space station has no computers, no radio, no ventilation," wrote Sergei Leskov in yesterday's Izvestia newspaper: "Whatever could be broken is broken already."