'N Sync space mission a step closer

The Russian Space Agency said the boy band star could be the next space tourist but added he was not yet a confirmed member of the planned October trip.

"So far this is only a provisional agreement and the singer has not yet been officially included in the crew to fly to the International Space Station in October," spokesman Vyacheslav Mikhailichenko said.

Bass, 23, has been in Moscow for intensive training for the 10-day excursion to the space station for a number of weeks.

A contract is being drawn up and if the deal is completed he will become the youngest person to go into orbit and the first celebrity to be launched into space.

US space agency NASA has concerns that Bass will be unprepared for the harsh realities of the trip.

But the Russian Space Agency is confident he will be ready in time, despite initially dismissing Bass' intentions to go into orbit because he would need at least six months training.

Bass is expected to pay at least $20m (£14m) for the experience of joining the space mission, alongside professional cosmonauts Sergei Zalyotin of Russia and Frank De Winne of Belgium.

Bass recently had a minor heart operation to rectify an irregular heartbeat in preparation for the mission.

He has since passed a battery of medical tests.

He has said it was his "lifelong dream" to go into orbit after attending a space camp as a child.

The Russian space agency has kept one seat available in the three-person Soyuz spacecraft set to launch in the autumn.

If the deal is signed, he would follow in the footsteps of pioneering space tourists Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, who reportedly paid $20m each for their trips to the space station.