Health test defeats space tourist

Daisuke Enomoto's replacement will be decided soon

A Japanese businessman hoping to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) has failed his medical test, according to Russian space agency officials.

Daisuke "Dice-K" Enomoto, 34, was hoping to become the fourth space tourist after being chosen to fly on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

He was due to accompany the 14th space station crew on a flight next month.

Previous private space explorers are Americans Dennis Tito and Greg Olsen and South African Mark Shuttleworth.

Russian Federal Space Agency spokesman Igor Panarin said that Enomoto was "deemed not ready to fly for exclusively medical reasons".

He was due to begin the journey on 14 September with US commander Miguel Lopez-Alegria and Russian flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin.

Mr Panarin said that his replacement would be decided shortly.

Enomoto's back-up is Anousheh Ansari, an American citizen of Iranian descent. She could now be the new occupant of the third seat.

Whoever fills it will spend a total of 10 days in space before returning to Earth alongside current occupants of the ISS - Russian commander Pavel Vinogradov and US flight engineer Jeff Williams.

A 10-day flight to the ISS, offered by Virginia-based company Space Adventures, costs $20m.