The Russian Space Agency is planning on taking tourists to the International Space Station (ISS) to cover a funding deficit, which will be made when Nasa stops paying Russia to carry astronauts to the orbiting satellite.

Russia has previously sent eight tourists into space – between 2001 and 2009 – but halted the astro-tourism programme when the ISS expanded its crew numbers and Nasa needed the shuttle space to send up its astronauts.

Now Nasa is moving away from Russian co-operation and privately developing its own spacecraft for such missions, with US companies including Boeing and SpaceX developing crafts, which Nasa will then pay to use.

Nasa’s existing US$76m (€68.9m, £50.8m) contract with the Russian Space Agency expires in 2017. It is thought that soon after that expiration, Russia will begin to offer adventurous tourists the trip of a lifetime, likely extending its existing deal with Nasa by one year.

"Roscosmos and Nasa may sign an agreement on delivery of astronauts in 2018," said a statement from RKK Energia – a subsidiary of the space agency which handles manned flights. "It may be the last agreement in the series, as Nasa contractors promise to complete construction and testing of new manned spaceships the Dragon manufactured by SpaceX and the CST-100 manufactured by Boeing in 2018."

The flight would make an International Space Station Visit the most expensive one in the universe, with the last visitor in 2009 reported to have paid an estimated US$40m (€36.3m, £26.7m) for the pleasure. Prior to the tourism window, opera singer, Sarah Brightman, will travel up in September with a seat open on the Soyuz rocket.