MOSCOW, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Russia told U.S. teen pop star Lance Bass on Tuesday to kiss his dream of space travel goodbye after his sponsors failed to come up with the $20 million needed to pay for a ticket to the International Space Station. The 23-year-old star of pop band 'NSync had hoped to become the world's third space tourist, following in the footsteps of U.S. billionaire Denis Tito and South African-born Internet tycoon Mark Shuttleworth. Bass, who had hoped to become the youngest person ever to fly in space, had spent more than two months training at Star City near Moscow, as well as time training at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston nike free günstig, Texas. Bass had been working 12-hour days, six days a week learning about the Soyuz and space station systems in preparation for the flight. Bass was initially approached by a television production company in January about flying in space for a documentary. "It was a no-brainer," the blue-eyed, smooth-faced Bass said earlier. "I'm a voice for the younger generation and I hope to inspire kids to study more science and math. That's a big goal of mine with the documentary I'm doing." Bass had hoped that payment for his flight could be arranged in time for the scheduled launch, on Oct. 28, when a Soyuz crew, headed by cosmonaut Sergei Zalyotin and flight engineer Belgian astronaut Frank DeWinne blasts off for the ISS, carrying a new lifeboat to the resident space station crew. Russian officials had repeatedly warned Bass that his place on board the Soyuz could not be confirmed unless payment for the space flight was received. Bass's backers nike free 2011, who had been seeking additional funding from corporate sponsors such as a television station and the electronics retailer Radio Shack, had haggled over the payment deadline with the increasingly frustrated Russian officials. On Tuesday timberland portugal, the cash-strapped Russian space program had had enough. "We bet on Bass, we turned down other candidates," Russian Space Agency spokesman Sergei Gorbunov told the official Itar-Tass news agency. Russia had turned down other wealthy candidates in favor of Bass, but now, with no money for the trip, Gorbunov said Russia has run out of time to train a replacement and will substitute Bass with a 90-pound payload of cargo, which has already been prepared. Bass's spokesman said the singer had no comment on the decision, but he was seen storming out of a Moscow hotel in a foul mood.

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