The dream of going to space will finally be possible for private citizens, if you can afford it. NASA said Friday it is opening the International Space Station for commercial business.
Private-sector astronauts could visit the space station as soon as next year as part of NASA’s five-part commercialization blueprint, reports CBS News. The agency said it will allow product development and even bring advertising to the space station. NASA will also develop free-flying research labs that could be rented out to private firms. They also hope commercial research and development in several space-related fields will be spurred on by the move.
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NASA said the commercialization of flying into low-Earth orbit will help the agency afford the cost of its Artemis program, which hopes to send astronauts back to the moon within five years.
“We’re reaching out to the private sector to see if you can push the economic frontier into space,” Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA director of space operations, said Friday. “This is a shift for NASA that will be beneficial for the American economy and for the American citizens.”
He continued, “The commercialization of low-Earth orbit will enable NASA to focus resources to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024 as the first phase in creating a sustainable lunar presence and preparing for missions to Mars.”
The private-sector astronauts will be able to fly up to the station in the spacecraft Boeing, SpaceX and other firms are already working on. They could spent up to a month onboard and there could be up to two launches per year.
NASA will also have the commercial flights carry up to 385 pounds of cargo.
The trip will not be affordable for the average American, at least at the start. NASA plans to charge $11,250 per commercial crew member per day for life support, plus $22,500 per day for crew supplies. It could be as much as $35,000 per day or over $1 million per crew member for a 30-day trip.
That is without the cost of transportation to and from the International Space Station, so how much Boeing or SpaceX plan to charge is unknown. The Russian government is charging NASA $80 million a seat on the Soyuz ferry ship, and NASA is predicting Boeing and SpaceX will charge around $58 million each per seat.
“We’re going to re-evaluate the pricing every six months,” Jeff DeWit, NASA chief financial officer, said. “If a private astronaut is on station, they’ll have to pay us while they’re there for the life support, the food, the water; things of that nature.”
“I would expect the cost to be in that [$58 million] range,” DeWit said of the cost for private astronauts. “The two companies right now that can do it are Boeing and SpaceX. And so, (private astronauts would) have to contract with them and whatever prices Boeing and SpaceX set is on them. But when they get to station, there will be a cost. It will be roughly about $35,000 a night per astronaut.”
NASA also listed some requirements for the private-sector astronauts. They must have a “microgravity environment for manufacturing, production or development of a product or service,” a “connection” to NASA’s space exploration mission and interest in supporting a “sustainable low-Earth orbit economy.” NASA astronauts will “be able to conduct coordinated, scheduled and reimbursable commercial and marketing activities consistent with government ethics requirements aboard the station.”
NASA, the European Space Agency and the space programs of Russia, Canada and Japan have all committed to supporting the International Space Station through 2024.
Photo credit: NASA
