Russian Firm Plans Commercial Space Station

astroengine writes "Buoyed by plans for commercial space taxis, a Russian company plans to build and launch a privately owned outpost in orbit for tourists, scientists and other paying visitors. RSC Energia, which designed and built the Russian modules of the International Space Station, is partnering with Russian commercial space startup Orbital Technologies to manufacture the new hub, currently known as Commercial Space Station."

Comments

There are no laws...

[Anonymous Coward]

against prostitution in space.

Oh yeah, Zero-G Porn!

Re:There are no laws...

[geekmux]

against prostitution in space.

Oh yeah, Zero-G Porn!

"...ah yes kids, much like the drive for Internet at broadband speeds, the primary driver behind the Commercialization of Space was indeed zero-gravity porn. And thus, Zero-G-oo Productions shot out of nowhere and covered the industry like a blanket of white....snow."

At least someone is moving forward

[syntap]

I am glad some portion of the Earth population wants to try moving into space commercially. Tourism will be where the money is so it is a good way to start. Eventually the tourists will want to move to the moon and beyond.

Re:At least someone is moving forward

[jgagnon]

That's hilarious because not that long ago deep sea exploration was impractical and before that even flights through the air were impractical. Just because something is "utterly delusional, impractical, unrealistic, ignorant" now doesn't mean it will always be that way, unless your mind chooses to make it so.

Re:At least someone is moving forward

[fiannaFailMan]

Ah, the old "stop exploring space and spend the money on social programs instead" argument. Odd how it only gets applied to space exploration but never the much bigger military budget.

What I'd like to see

[oldspewey]

I'd like to see a graph showing the total volume of pressurized, human-habitable "tin can" in orbit over time ... because I bet that graph is about to go hockey stick over the next few decades.

Re:What I'd like to see

[Nyeerrmm]

You're missing the point. The most important thing we can do in space is to live there. Slowly but surely we need to learn how to live away from and independent of the Earth.

At least thats what those of us who fight to do these things think. Its not about nationalism or even science -- you may disagree, but then you're making the wrong argument.

Re:What I'd like to see

[fiannaFailMan]

We evolved here. Here is where we function optimally.

We evolved in Africa. As the climate changed we decided it might be a good idea to spread out a little and try to adapt to living in a different environment. Result? We're still here after all this time. I'd like to think that we won't spend the rest of our existence with all our eggs in the single basket of Earth. Until we become a space faring race, we're one asteroid away from extinction. The sooner we diversify, the better off we're going to be.

Re:What I'd like to see

[FrozenFOXX]

No, I think you're still missing what the GP is talking about as it's all-encompassing with respect to your argument.

Yes, it's hard to do. Exactly when has that ever stopped us before? You seriously cannot look five feet from you and not see something that just a thousand years ago (and really short period of time) wasn't completely and totally impossible in every sense of the word. The only constant in our knowledge is that what we know today will someday be replaced by a greater understanding. To quote the oft-quoted line, "Imagine what you'll 'know' tomorrow."

As far as it being pointless to survive I not-so-humbly disagree. Part of the point OF being mortal is that we are supposed to survive. It's what we do. It's what we've done for centuries, millennium, and will continue to do until past the point where it would seem impossible to continue to (as we have before). We're wired that way and damned proud of it for better or for worse. The birthright of living things is to rage against the all-encompassing void. No creature and especially humans have ever achieved anything of value by sitting around and making ourselves comfortable and waiting for death. If you'd like to be the first I don't think anyone else will mind; we'll be too busy trying to make some sort of a difference for future generations, enjoy our current generation, and honor past generations.

But to summarize, yes, these things are hard. Moving off-world is a seemingly impossible task. But we were born to do impossible things. We have done impossible things. We like doing impossible things.

Saving up for a trip into orbit....

[joe2tiger]

I'm saving up money for a trip into orbit. It would be feasible for me to spend $10,000 to $20,000 dollars for space flight. I figure this will be a possibility for me in 20 years when it drops to that price, maybe sooner when we have space elevators.

Re:Wait! The commies....?

[c6gunner]

There's nobody who appreciates capitalism quite as much as those who have lived under communism.

Re:Wait! The commies....?

[Teancum]

Only a former communist would think of selling spaceflight trips to a socialist American government because that government can't pull its head out of its own behind to be able to build a working vehicle that would get its own astronauts into space. As of June 2011, the USA will be without any sort of manned spaceflight capability..... all of it will be done by flying Soyuz spacecraft out of Kazakhstan.

Yeah, there might be some American companies who are suggesting they can fly a spacecraft of their own, but leave it to Congress to screw that up royally. A nice bi-partisan effort is making sure that only the best pork will flow to the proper congressional districts even if nothing ever actually gets built and the heck with anybody else trying.