Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Russia Doubles Price For Launching US Astronauts

Posted by samzenpus on from the strange-bedfellows dept.

Third Position writes "NASA on Tuesday signed a contract to pay $55.8 million per astronaut for six Americans to fly into space on Russian Soyuz capsules in 2013 and 2014. NASA needs to get rides on Russian rockets to the International Space Station because it plans to retire the space shuttle fleet later this year. NASA now pays half as much, about $26.3 million per astronaut, when it uses Russian ships."

2 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. Why the hell does it cost so much to reach orbit? by Turzyx · · Score: 0, Troll

    Seriously? $55.8 million for a single seat? And that's value for money compared to launching a shuttle?

    Hear me out for a minute... the rocket is just going straight up, what's so hard? Just strap a sealed chamber onto a grain silo of fuel, surely? Are you telling me that if I had the best part of $60 million I couldn't design, build and fly my own rocket in to space? Even a brute force solution wouldn't be that expense, surely?

  2. Re:Obvious Question by Animaether · · Score: 0, Troll

    How much did they pay with the shuttle, per astonaut?

    About $75 Million ($450 Million per launch)i>Q. How much does it cost to launch a Space Shuttle?
    A. The average cost to launch a Space Shuttle is about $450 million per mission

    That's not the answer to the question, then.

    If it costs $450M/launch, and you presume it has a crew of 6 (some had 5, some had 7), and you suggest it costs $75/astronaut... then sending up an empty shuttle would cost $0, naught, nil, nothing, be free, etc.?

    So.. who wants to give the original question another stab?