Dr. Kathuria was a founding director of MirCorp, the company that made history on April 4, 2000 when it launched the world's first privately funded manned space program and signed up Dennis Tito to space as Earth's first space tourist or citizen explorer. MirCorp was a joint venture with RSC Energia. RSC Energia launched the first satellite (Sputnik), sent the first man to orbit the Earth (Yuri Gagarin), built the Mir Space Station, and is a major partner in the International Space Station.