MOSCOW, March 14: Russian engineers on Thursday unveiled the first space cruiser built specially for tourists and said the maiden voyage will take place within three years.

The eight by three-and-a-half-metre craft will seat a pilot and two passengers when it launches in 2004 or 2005, said officials from the Myasishchev Design Bureau.

Resembling a mini version of the U.S. space shuttle, the C-XXI ship will perform 30-minute sub-orbital flights at an altitude of 101 kilometres. Rides will cost 100,000 dollars per person.

It will ride piggyback on a transporter plane to an altitude of 17 kilometres before blasting off using its own booster rocket.

Myasishchev said it already has 100 bookings.—dpa