ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge is allowing a Japanese millionaire to go ahead with his lawsuit against a Virginia company that he says unfairly denied him a ride into outer space.
Daisuke Enomoto wanted to be the world’s fourth “space tourist.” He paid $21 million to Space Adventures, the Vienna, Va., company known for brokering such deals with the Russian space agency.
Space Adventures says Enomoto was medically disqualified in 2006 because of kidney stones.
Enomoto says the kidney stones were a pretext to boot him off the mission because he refused demands from the company for more money.
While the judge is allowing the case to proceed, he tossed out some of Enomoto’s claims.