When he was selected for astronaut training he was working with the Anglo-Italian helicopter company AgustaWestland.

BBC: UK astronaut Tim Peake to go to International Space Station

Do expect Chinese astronauts to turn up at European astronaut training facilities, and vice-versa.

BBC: China in space: Running fast to catch up

There are now at least a dozen space tourism endeavors worldwide, offering experiences that range from a flight to the fringe of space to astronaut training on a tropical island.

CNN: Opening the space frontier, one tourist at a time

He visits a Russian farm to look at the country's ambitions to be an agricultural superpower, checks out the Star City astronaut training center, meets with seven-foot boxing world champion-turned-movie star Nikolai Valuev and talks along the way with entrepreneurs and environmentalists working to make the city of Sochi home to green Olympics in 2014.

CNN: Eye on Russia: Opportunity and Influence

Each lease is all-inclusive, covering a set number of flights for astronauts to and from the module per year, the assistance and support of an onboard Bigelow crew, station maintenance, living supplies, communications and astronaut-training programs.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The position, which was first created and held by Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton in 1962, oversees the activities of the astronaut corps, including managing training programs, appointing technical assignments and choosing the crews for upcoming space missions.

MSN: NASA names space shuttle veteran as new chief astronaut

Thirty-three-year-old Liu Yang, also a military pilot, has on the other hand emerged as China's first woman astronaut after just two years of training.

BBC: China launches space mission with first woman astronaut