Russians say pop star's space trip off

Lance Bass

MOSCOW (CNN) -- Russian officials Tuesday said 'N Sync singer Lance Bass will not be taking off for a trip next month to the orbiting international space station as Bass representatives say they are still trying to salvage the deal.

Bass had hoped to fly to the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on October 28. But the singer stopped cosmonaut training at Russia's Star City and the Russians are saying he won't be back.

Russian space officials said a Russian and a Belgian will be making the flight. In Bass' place on the trip will be a cargo container, they said.

The Russians said Bass could not come up with the money for the trip.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO The Russian Space Agency pulls the plug on N' Sync star Lance Bass's bid to fly in space, CNN's Jill Dougherty reports (September 3) Play video   MOSCOW UPDATE Jill Dougherty: Russians, singer out of sync

The pop star has been granted numerous deadline extensions after failing to come up with the $20 million needed to secure his seat. The deal has almost fallen apart numerous times.

But Cindy Owen, Bass' manager, told CNN that negotiations between Russia and Bass representatives are continuing. She believes Bass will be back in Star City by the end of the week.

Jeff Manber, president of Mircorp, working on behalf of Bass, said Bass "trained on Monday, was off training Tuesday, but his stuff is done still there," in Star City.

Celebrity Missions, the group putting together the funding for the mission, "is fully prepared to go forward," Manber said.

The 150-kilogram (330-pound) container will be packed with personal belongings for the current international space station crew -- Russian cosmonauts Verley Korzun and Sergei Zalyotin and U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson -- and hardware for the Russian-built components of the station, the Russian news agency Interfax reported Tuesday.