NASA will let people pay to stay on the International Space Station

Sankari

Sankari

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This will seriously trigger flat earthers and moon landing conspiracy theorists:

The International Space Station is open for business. NASA announced on 7 June that it is expanding the use of the orbital laboratory to include astronauts from private companies and activities beyond just research and development.

This means that private companies will be able to manufacture products and even do marketing on the ISS.
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NASA will also allow a private module to be added to the station, creating a “commercial destination” in anticipation of independent commercial space stations.

Private astronauts will also be allowed to visit the station for missions lasting up to 30 days, with trips up to twice a year starting in 2020, Gatens said.
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(Source).

A visit to the ISS will cost an average of $35,000 per night.

:eek:
 

Destination

Destination

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I find it weirdly cheap...
I wonder what the minimum stay is, as it must be a significant period, just to cover the costs of the launch in the first place.
 

darkgen

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I was surprised no-one posted this story yesterday. Immediate thoughts are juxtaposed between devaluing the science versus encouraging private enterprise and thus pushing forward the agenda of space exploration (through tourism). I suspect my thinking is being influenced though as I am currently watching series 2 of The Expanse!
 

413x

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Great money spinner for nasa. The rich will love this. Its something you generally can't buy. It seems super cheap.

Yep flat earth brigade are going to struggle with this one!
 

b0rn2sk8

b0rn2sk8

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Em3bbs said:
The stay seems cheap, but what are the transport links/costs like? Do they take Oyster card?
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Doesn’t include the cost of the space taxi. A Space X launch to the ISS is around $60m. It also doesn’t include all the physical training needed to do it.

You would also need to ask if it includes food, oxygen and water, not sure on those!
 

SexyGreyFox

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413x said:
Yep flat earth brigade are going to struggle with this one!
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We've already got it covered.
You'll sit in what looks like a shuttle for take off but will be fed a gas and then next thing it will be an elaborate simulator making you believe you are traveling into space and onto the ISS.
It's a lot of money for a simulator.
 

b0rn2sk8

b0rn2sk8

b0rn2sk8

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Teh_Next said:
Hmmmm

What are the Ruskies saying about this? One does not just pop to the ISS, one must travel through ROSCOSMOS, surely?
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They will be taking Space X and Blue Origin rocket taxis. I already posted this :), $60m+ a trip on Space X bargain right? In all seriousness it is actually a bargain compared to historic costs due to the reusable first stage.

They were contracted by NASA a few years ago, Space X will likely be carrying people (currently cargo only) by the end of the year or early next (has a slight set back recently). Not sure about Blue Orogin, they haven’t tested their capsule yet IIRC.
 

Pawnless Endgame

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I remember my mum and I were chatting about current affairs in 1994 (I was 15), stuff like Ayrton Senna has just died, Bosnian Serbs unrest, Criminal Justice Bill 1994, Tony Blair is the new Labour leader etc etc. Then she was asking what I would like to see in a future news bulletin? I said stuff about space travel, space tourism, living on a space station, colonising the moon etc. I was a big Red Dwarf fan back then, so those were the type of answers I gave.

Now that we've had the news about the ISS, it won't be for Joey public by a long shot, but I still find it satisfying given the 1994 conversation.

Off-topic, but also in 1994, there was something on the news about "home shopping" becoming available soon. You would use a TV set and your zapper as normal to order the groceries and it was going to be masterminded by Microsoft. This obviously didn't happen, and instead it would be provided by the supermarket companies via the internet and I don't think it became available until the early 2000s.
 

Orionaut

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This thread reminds me of a very significant lesson as to the difference between how Mens and Womans minds work that I learned some years ago.

Just as a matter of conversation.

I said to the GF "If I won the BIG lottery, I would want to spend £20 Mil on a trip to the ISS with the Russians"

She was utterly horrified at the idea, really, utterly horrified! :(

It wasn't about the money, it was about the idea that I would have a really significant risk of dying!

It was a sort of "How could you want to put me through this" moment.

I really feel for the wives of the Apollo astronauts. Their Men were doing something that was, to them, the most important thing ever.

To the Women however, it must have been a complete roller-coaster of fear and terror and I actually think that their role in all this has been totally ignored by history.

:/
 
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