By Douglas Helm 18 seconds ago
It seems that the four space tourists who recently went to the International Space Station will have to extend their space vacation a little more. Earlier this month, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully launched three passengers and a former NASA astronaut. This was the first time an all-private crew, funded by private companies, went to the ISS. The mission consisted of SpaceX and Axiom Space and was to last ten days. It seems that the mission has been extended to about 12 days instead.
Fortunately, it seems that the private crew aboard the International Space Station is not too upset about development. In fact, during a live event where the crew answered questions from children at NASA’s Houston Space Center, they mentioned that they would like to go to the moon next. Although the Moon is a much larger and more expensive target than the International Space Station, this is undoubtedly the path that space tourism is taking. The crew on board the current mission spent a whopping $ 55 million per person to travel to the ISS, so the cost of the trip to the moon is likely to be much higher. In addition, there is currently no spacecraft ready to take civilians to the moon. So it seems that these impatient tourists will just have to enjoy the two extra space days they get.
The International Space Station’s private crew is currently due to disembark on Tuesday and land in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. The successful landing will mark the end of the first all-private, privately funded voyage and will help prove the potential of the fast-growing space tourism industry. Axiom Space, one of the companies behind this mission, is even eager to develop its own space station. While a visit to the ISS should be one of the coolest experiences out there, the station is designed for exploration, surveillance and exploration. It is assumed that the Axiom station will be designed for tourism, which will make it a very different experience from the ISS. Hopefully, they won’t charge $ 55 million for travel until then.
NASA has already approved Axiom for their next private space mission, so it is clear that the collaboration between the government agency SpaceX and the growing space tourism company is something that will continue to grow in the future. As SpaceX continually develops more feasible means of space travel with more affordable production, NASA’s years of research and technology and the money and innovation Axiom offers on the table, the future of commercial spaceflight and space hotels could be more soon than we all think.
SpaceX, in turn, continues to test and develop the Starship spacecraft, which is designed to carry crew and cargo. It is a much larger and more powerful ship than the Dragon and will probably be used to take human tourists and astronauts to space stations, the moon and even Mars. So, if your dream is to visit space, you can soon fulfill your wish – if you have the money to cover it.
Add Comment