Russia may cut the number of Russian cosmonauts in the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) in order to replace them with space tourists and to improve the commercial use of its ISS segment, the Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, says.

      Russia has completely suspended its space tourism program in 2010 due to ISS crew increase, following the example of some other countries. However, tourist flights are expected to resume in 2015, as British singer Sarah Brightman will become the eighth space tourist, with her launch planned for September.

      "We can discuss the possibility of space tourism at least. It is possible to expand the commercial use of the station, offering space trips for short and long terms", Yury Koptev, the head of Roscosmos, told the press.

      Roscosmos is the only organization providing space tourist transport currently. In 2017-2018 the United States plan to launch two ships intended for delivering tourists and austronuats to the ISS.

      "We are not planning to remove our cosmonauts from the ISS completely. It is out of the question", Koptev found it significant to add.