NASA said Friday it will open up the International Space Station for tourism and other business ventures as of next year, as it seeks to financially disengage from the orbiting research lab.
NASA said Friday it will open up the International Space Station for tourism and other business ventures as of next year, as it seeks to financially disengage from the orbiting research lab.
NASA chief financial officer Jeff DeWit said in New York, NASA is opening the International Space Station to commercial opportunities and marketing these opportunities as we’ve never done before.
There will be up to two short private astronaut missions per year, said Robyn Gatens, deputy director of the ISS. NASA estimated the cost of a flight would be around $50 million per seat. In addition, NASA will charge visitors for food, storage, and communication once at the station.
NASA will allow private citizens to stay at the International Space Station (ISS) for month-long getaways at a cost of about $35,000 per night, the U.S. space agency said on Friday.
The shift reverses a long-standing prohibition against tourists and private interests at the orbiting research lab and reflects a broader push to expand commercial activities at the ISS and in space more generally. It paves the way for private citizens to travel to the ISS aboard rocket-and-capsule launch systems being developed by Boeing Co and Elon Musk's SpaceX. The two companies are set to ferry astronauts to the ISS from U.S. soil for the first time in nearly a decade.
NASA will allow up to two private trips to the station per year, each lasting up to 30 days, NASA said. The first mission could be as early as 2020. But the ride won't be cheap.
NASA estimated the cost of a flight would be around $50 million per seat. In addition, NASA will charge visitors for food, storage, and communication once at the station.
NASA's Chief Financial Officer Jeff DeWit said, if you look at the pricing and you add it up, back of a napkin, it would be roughly $35,000 a night, per astronaut. But it won't come with any Hilton or Marriott points.
NASA's Russian counterpart Roscosmos has already allowed a number of private citizens at the station. NASA officials also said opening the door to private enterprise gives the agency more room to focus on the Trump administration's goal of returning to the moon by 2024, which could be fueled in part by revenue generated from new commercial services and paying astronauts. Arrangements for the trip were being left to Boeing and SpaceX.
The missions will be for stays of up to 30 days. As many as a dozen private astronauts could visit the ISS per year, NASA said.
These travelers would be ferried to the orbiter exclusively by the two companies currently developing transport vehicles for NASA SpaceX, with its Crew Dragon capsule, and Boeing, which is building one called Starliner. These companies would choose the clients and bill for the trip to the ISS, which will be the most expensive part of the adventure: around $58 million for a round trip ticket. That is the average rate the companies will bill NASA for taking the space adventurers up to the ISS.
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