Lance Bass is Ready for Blast-Off

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday May 29, 2002 01:00 PM EDT

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'N Sync singer Lance Bass, the wannabe astronaut, appears ready, willing and, most importantly, able to zoom into space, reports Reuters. Bass, 23, who recently underwent an unexplained surgical procedure to correct an unexplained heart irregularity, has been informally pronounced physically fit enough to take a trip aboard a Russian rocket flight to the International Space Station, according to David Krieff, the Hollywood producer who is arranging financial backing for the trip. "He's in top physical condition, top mental condition," Krieff said from Los Angeles, according to Reuters. "He's doing great with everything." Bass is scheduled to be approved for the voyage shortly. "There's some sort of ceremony next Wednesday where he'll be even more formally certified," said Krieff, whose company is called Destiny Productions. Next week, Bass is due to commence a nearly six-month flight training program at the cosmonaut center in Russia's Star City, where several weeks ago he resumed a battery of physical and medical tests after completing his band's latest concert tour, said the producer, according to Reuters. Blast-off for the weeklong voyage is planned for this fall from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. American businessman Dennis Tito and South African mogul Mark Shuttleworth have previously done the trip, for a reported cost of $20 million each. As Krieff noted, should the 'N Sync singer's dream come true and he boards the Soyuz rocket, he would become the youngest person ever to be shot into space.