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Motel 6... Hundred Miles Up

Posted by michael on from the we'll-leave-the-airlock-open-for-you dept.

SatelliteBoy writes: "Robert Bigelow, the tycoon behind Budget Suites of America, has founded Bigelow Aerospace. He just announced plans to launch a space station. He claims it can go up within 30 months. Let's see what this costs to visit..."

4 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. why bother with the FAA? by austad · · Score: 5

    Why is he even bothering with the FAA and United States legal BS? If he launches from some other country, like one near the equator to decrease the amount of fuel needed to get into orbit, he should have to deal with the FAA and the US government at all.

    Isn't there already a launchpad in some african country near the equator, or didn't russia just make some deal to put one there?

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  2. Why NASA is pissed. by selectspec · · Score: 5

    For the same reason they hated Tito. NASA doesn't want anybody to build a space station for 500 million dollars, because it shows how rediculous their budget is. It was the same deal with Tito. Tito payed roughly 12 million to go into space (despite NASA's attempts to claim the number was really 20 million). The Russian crew was three including Tito. Assuming, that the 12 million was enough to cover the costs of a single crew member (why else would they do it), that suggests that it only cost the Russians at most about 36 million (I'm sure it was less). It costs NASA 600 million for each space shuttle launch ( = Space shuttle annual budget / number of launches). Now, if you are a NASA administrator, and some guys says he's going to spend 500 million on a space station, and you can't launch the shuttle for that, what are you going to say!

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  3. Nor should there be. by lazn · · Score: 5

    "The papers and forms don't exist for an application like this."

    Umm the FAA dosn't own space. Just go.

    (I am sure europe would be interested to know the american government seems to think it owns everything around the earth)

    ==>Lazn

  4. Marketting campaign. by dasmegabyte · · Score: 5

    At the end of the day, you're tired from space walking everywhere with the kids, the long ride in the station wagon shuttle on the way to Grandma's house on the moon, all you really want is some rest, clean atmosphere and a vaccuum you can pee into. Here at Space Station Six, we beleive in amenities like artifical gravity, free space suits for the kids and a complementary freeze dried continental breakfast.

    So come on down to Space Station 6 next time you're trekking across the cosmos. We'll leave the landing light on for you.

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