In 1999, the Russian government stopped funding of Mir. Two astronauts named Viktor Afanasiev and Sergei Avdeev performed perhaps the most spectacular experiment onboard Mir, deploying a giant umbrella-like antenna outside the station in 1999. During 2000, a privately financed mission was launched to Mir. Russia's Space Program brought the first tourist into space, his name was Denis Tito, he was from California and he was sixty years old. His trip cost him 40 million dollars and it was done in 2001. The Russia Space Station shut down in 2002 because they were having problems raising money.
In July 13, 2002 Russia announced sending a six person team to Mars by 2015. It would be a 420 day trip and it would cost $30 billion dollars. On December 12, 2002 , Russia 's Space Chief Koptev was quoted to say the Russia 's Space Budget has shrunk greatly. Russia 's budget in 2002 was $309 million dollars as compared to the United States budget of $15 billion dollars.
After the tragedy of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia, all U.S. space travel was halted. This has put a large financial burden on Russia. They have taken on the responsiblity of being the International Space Station's only supply link, taking them food, water, films and a satellite phone to American Edward Lu and Russia's Yuri Malenchenko who have manned the outpost since late April.