Russia to resume space tourism

Russia to resume space tourism

MOSCOW

Russia officials say they will resume space tourism in 2018 after years of sending into space only professional cosmonauts and astronauts.

Russia had sent seven paying guests to the International Space Station since 2001 before curtailing the program in 2009. Sending a tourist has been all but impossible since 2011 when the United States shut down its space-shuttle program and had to rely on Russian Soyuz rockets in order to get into orbit.

RKK Energia, a state-controlled rocket manufacturer, said in a quarterly report released last week that it plans to make up for an expected drop in demand for manned flights by resuming space tourism in 2018.

Geography quiz

Q. To which country would you go to visit Bwindi Impenetrable National Park?

A. Uganda. The park, on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is part of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and is noted as home to roughly half of the world’s population of mountain gorillas.

Garden visitors

DENVER

Denver Botanic Gardens had more visitors last year than any other public garden in North America, edging out the Washington, D.C., attraction that usually tops the list.

Denver gardens CEO Brian Vogt credited a popular show by contemporary glass artist Dale Chihuly and the opening of a science exhibit.

Those elements and good weather resulted in more than 1.4 million visitors, substantially up from the previous record of 879,000 set in 2013, Vogt said.

The Directors of Large Gardens’ top 10 list released last week put the United States Botanic Garden second with nearly 1.3 million visitors and Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa., third with more than 1.1 million.

Combined dispatches