Lance Bass Wants to Go to Space

NEW YORK – It seems that 'N Sync's Lance Bass wants to say "bye, bye, bye" — to planet Earth.

The boy band member is negotiating to travel on a Russian rocket that would launch him from 'N Sync to in space.

Bass said in a statement Wednesday that he was "completely overwhelmed."

The mission would come in November, according to MirCorp, the Amsterdam-based space travel company.

"I'm looking forward to completing this lifelong dream," Bass said.

The plan still requires the approval of the Russian space agency, Rosaviakosmos, according to MirCorp, which also plans to build the first private space station. The partners in the international space station program — the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe — also would have to approve the trip.

The 22-year-old Bass attended space camp near Titusville, Fla., when he was 12. He said Wednesday that he would have to undergo five or six months of training at Star City, the space training center outside Moscow, before blasting off.

A Los Angeles TV production company, Destiny Productions, is one of several corporations offering to sponsor Bass' journey, and hopes to document it for a television special, Celebrity Mission: Lance Bass.

Bass' voyage would follow that of California investment banker Dennis Tito, who reportedly paid $20 million to visit the International Space Station last year. South African tycoon Mark Shuttleworth reportedly is spending the same sum to fly to the space station on a Russian rocket in late April.

Russia's space chief, Yuri Koptev, has said his agency is mulling over several tourist candidates to visit the station in October. "The earnings provide serious support for the industry, the cosmonauts' training center and mission control," he said Wednesday.

Bass expects to start training in May, after the pop group's "Celebrity 2002" tour, which begins March 3 in Portland, Ore.

Bass' film debut, On the Line, didn't exactly skyrocket in October. Critics panned the romantic comedy, co-starring Joey Fatone of 'N Sync, and it sank at the box office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.