Russian space officials want to offer tourists a trip around the moon for $100 million, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Energiya, the Russian company that helps build and fly Moscow's spaceships, presented the plans to the Federal Space Agency on Monday, the daily Izvestia said.

A space tourist would blast off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on a Soyuz rocket, spend a week on the International Space Station (ISS) and then leave the ISS to travel around the moon before returning to earth, the paper said.

Russia's Space Agency, which is eager to attract extra funds, has sent two tourists into space -- US businessman Dennis Tito and South African Mark Shuttleworth -- on week-long trips. Tickets for those trips cost a reported $20 million.

(China Daily via agencies July 28, 2005)