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NASA Considers Selling Seats on the Spacecraft Used For International Space Station (washingtonpost.com)
NASA is considering selling seats on the spacecraft that will ferry its astronauts to the International Space Station, offering rides to the public while opening another line of revenue as the agency attempts to broaden its appeal [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source]. From a report: On several occasions, Russia has flown wealthy individuals who paid millions for the ride to space. And a trio of private companies backed by billionaires, is also looking to fly tourists out of the atmosphere. But except for a couple of rare exceptions, such as Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who was killed when the space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, NASA has not allowed private citizens on its rockets. "Just like in the early days of aviation, with barnstorming, these initial activities will help build the infrastructure and the foundation that can lead to future innovations that, frankly, we cannot imagine right now," said Michael Gold, the general counsel of Maxar Technologies, who is leading the advisory council's policy reform effort.
The proposal, backed Friday by a NASA advisory subcommittee, is still in the nascent stage, and is part of moves by the agency to better insert itself into the public consciousness by working with the private sector. The proposals would have to be approved by the entire advisory council and then forwarded to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Friday's meeting comes two months after Bridenstine announced he was standing up the committee, and tasking it to look at how the agency could better partner with industry. He said then that he wants NASA and its astronauts "embedded into the American culture." On Friday, he reiterated the point, saying: "The reality is, we're in a new era now."
The proposal, backed Friday by a NASA advisory subcommittee, is still in the nascent stage, and is part of moves by the agency to better insert itself into the public consciousness by working with the private sector. The proposals would have to be approved by the entire advisory council and then forwarded to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Friday's meeting comes two months after Bridenstine announced he was standing up the committee, and tasking it to look at how the agency could better partner with industry. He said then that he wants NASA and its astronauts "embedded into the American culture." On Friday, he reiterated the point, saying: "The reality is, we're in a new era now."
If NASA wants to promote spaceflight to the general public, how about also having a lottery to give one seat away? Pending someone being physically fit enough (and mentally stable enough -- don't need someone losing it in the middle of launch or in zero-G) to withstand it, of course. Also think of it this way: astronauts are highly trained physically for spaceflight. The data you'd gather from people closer to 'average' would be priceless.
Doesn't NASA need a spacecraft that can fly to the IIS before selling seats on it? They don't currently have vehicle that can go to the IIS. Are they selling seats on the SLS, which might get cancelled after spending billions? Or are they selling seats on the Soyuz, Dragon or Dreamliner, which they don't own?
Enigma
But the Space Force patch for your uniform will still cost $2,000,000.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Ya know, like sending Christa McAuliffe up on a Space Shuttle. WCPGW?
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
The only issue with this (which would be awesome) is that the winning ticket would be taxed as winnings income. Given that the trip would be worth multiple millions of dollars in value, the winner would probably have to auction off the seat just to pay the tax.
So a rich guy gets to go either way. BUT some random guy becomes a millionaire AND NASA gets funding for their science.
WIN-WIN-WIN. Let's do it.
i'm glad we gained insight into the respiratory cycle of frogs in 0 G though
... buy a seat?
I sure as hell ain't taking it home with me and you can bet yer ass I'm not gonna ride in it.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
NASA has to sound corporate-ish to make the current administration happy, or at least less grumpy. I expect the walls of ISS to be full of spam posters soon: "In space, everyone can hear how great GEICO is".
Ridicule aside, perhaps the commercial angle can be made to work, but it also has the potential to go sour as profits and science may have to fight over the same "space".
Table-ized A.I.
it will end up being subsidized with taxpayer dollars for billionaire jaunts. Just like all those airports in the middle of nowhere that just happen to be next to some rich donor's summer villa.
Give me universal healthcare, a living minimum wage and a jobs guarantee and we'll talk about your subsidized rides to space. Until then no more free money for billionaires' hobbies.
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Due to the constant under-budgeting by congress, NASA has been reduced to offering carnival rides for the rich. NASA is supposed to be about science. This is shameful and reflects poorly upon our nation.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Well maybe they could launch on time. Astronauts can wait a week between launches but not the public. Imagine what a weeks worth of dehydrated vegetables and meats would taste like
I hear the waiting times for your shuttle are immense!
Don't forget the several months fitness regime they put you in, just for a damn several hour flight!
Absolute rip-off ticket prices as well.
No deal.
I'll take the bus.
It's well past time for NASA to make efforts to move their public image into a more prominent and popular role. They're constantly under budgeted largely because the general public really doesn't know or care much about them or what they do. The best way to change that is through publicity or a new cold war/space race... Selling seats certainly seems like a preferable alternative to a sputnik redux.
Give me tech and research to get to Mars, to produce food efficiently and to learn how to cure disease - even if billionaires fully pay their way (with a healthy 2-1 ROI bill).
Until then no more free handouts to people demanding jobs, free healthcare and then mandated wages because they're speshul snowflakes and deserve everything because they were born on earth - and not say wildlife, wilderness untouched by human scum who don't want to learn, don't want to work but happily want to wear the latest Nikes and eat the latest pringles.
this makes no sense at all. NASA has no seats to sell. They don't have any ships that can fly to space.
How would re-selling seats on Space-X launches possibly be a profitable exercise? Space-X can and probably will sell seats directly themselves.
If NASA is to survive as the ensuing space age develops, they'll have to become independent from the erratic whims of Congress. I'm not sure that's possible, but I can't fault them for trying.
Unless NASA sells their interest in the ISS to a private entity, anything launched from the US and authorized to dock to the ISS will be a NASA flight. It might be contracted from Boeing or SpaceX, but it will be NASA coordinated and controlled in cooperation with the Russian and EU partners. Thus, if NASA does sell seats to ISS, it will almost certainly not depend on SLS.
Spaceflight will always be risky, and there will be failures. The recent Russian Soyuz launch failure highlights this, and ironically, is positive publicity for good engineering. The Soyuz rocket blew up, but the Soyuz capsule returned safely, along with the crew. The SpaceX Crewed Dragon Capsule and Boeing CST-100 Starliner will have similar launch abort systems and good survival capability. A lot of unfortunate lessons were learned from the shuttle program, and comparisons of a well engineered capsule or Dreamchaser-type system to the shuttle are unwarranted.
So far the most promising commercial space venture to replace or compete with the ISS seems to be Bigelow Aerospace and their commercial space station. Their BA 2100 expandable module is truly massive, and interestingly seems to fit with launch capabilities of the SpaceX BFR rocket, as well as the SLS, it it gets built.
I can't see NASA ever owning launch capability to compete with the likes of SpaceX or Blue Origin, but I can see them owning and controlling destinations in Earth orbit. For commercial operations NASA may evolve into, or merge with the likes of the FAA for safety and regulatory oversight.
Things will get really interesting when commercial space operations can leave all that behind and stake their claims in on the Moon and in lunar orbit, and of course, on Mars. I don't think NASA will be in the drivers seat by then. They've been hobbled by Congress for far too long and were never designed to be a commercially competitive entity.
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." - H. G. Wells
NASA's budget 2018: ~$20B
DoD budget 2018: ~$600B
Once the crowing achievement of the US, is now under consideration to be little more than an expensive bus ride for the wealthy as a means to generate income. :|
I'm surprised NASA hasn't resorted to a bake sale for fundraising
Though I suppose if their budget keeps getting slashed, they may ultimately resort to such a thing.
Astronaut cookies anyone ?
Its something the Russians would have to do. Not us.
With the condition that you have to be able to survive a two way trip even if you do win.
As with all lottery scams their net income will be far higher than if they just sold seats.
If they use the same class divisions as they do for conventional air travel, it will allow everyone access to space. They'll have first-class seats that will be padded, with all the amenities, and go for 20 million dollars a pop.
They'll have business class, which will cost between 350,000 and 5 million dollars per ticket, but you'll have to bring your own pillow, blanket, space suit, and acceleration chair. Hope you can find ultra-light-weight ones, because each additional pound costs 32,000 dollars. Oh, also, there's no bathrooms provided for you, nor water, nor heat, nor radiation shielding, so you'll have to bring your own one of each of those, too. BUT at least, they'll get to ride INSIDE the spacecraft.
The class below that, Economy-Plus Class, which will sell tickets for between 800 and 13,000 dollars each, is a far cheaper option, blending affordability with the barest of essentials: thrust.
Using Economy-Plus Class tickets consist of being allowed to hold onto a 100-foot-long, carbon-fiber and stainless steel braided, heat-resistant tether, and cling to it below the rocket as it heads to orbit. Like with business class, you will need to bring everything you might need or want to have for yourself, and again, it's 32,000 per pound, but Economy Plus Class does not provide a standard courtesy weight included in the cost of the ticket, so if you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, that's 3.2 million dollars that will have to be paid for, as a weight surcharge, before counting your space suit, etc.
If you buy a century in advance, it only costs 800 dollars, which is how you can get one for that low a price. One ticket per customer, only, however, and of course, they're neither transferable nor upgradeable. A 150% cancellation fee applies, so if you've decided after buying the ticket that you'd rather not go, just don't show up. Bear in mind, of course, that as the rocket climbs, all the people hanging from the tethers are going to be bathed in rocket exhaust, which basically means they're going to end up feeling a bit like marshmallows being toasted over a campfire, upside down, but instead of a campfire, it's an acetylene torch. Still beats flying coach though...
Speaking of which, there's one class even cheaper than Econ+, which is of course, the aforementioned venerable old "Coach" Class. In coach, the tickets only cost $0.99 each. You may wonder how it's so cheap for them. Well... Flying to the stars in Coach Class consists of showing up to the launchpad on the day of the flight, and lining up facing the rocket. Then they show you a picture of the rocket in flight, and slowly raise the picture higher and higher in front of the passengers while making roaring and whooshing noises. Then, as the picture of the flying rocket gets about as high up as the guy holding the picture can hold it, someone steps up behind each of the passengers and simultaneously shoots them all in the back of the head.
Then they dump the corpses into a mass grave. The $0.99 ticket price covers the cost of the bullet, and amortizes a portion of the costs of the gun, the steam-shovel, and digging the giant pit for the grave, of course. Religious services, if desired or required, will have to be arranged and paid for beforehand. (NASA's not running a charity, after all.)
In other words, it would be pretty close to exactly like flying coach class on an airplane, but without the long wait at the end to retrieve your baggage from the carousel.
Upon reflection, it occurs to me that if you're flying Economy Plus, you're really going to fare just about as well as the folks in Coach, and you're paying a LOT more for it, so you're really just squandering your money.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
That's one giant wall of text for mankind.
I know they say ‘brevity is the sole of wit,’ but unfortunately, brevity does not come easily for me. I wax laconic for several hours a day, typically... when I’m asleep. The rest of the time, I tend to the verbose. Speaking of which, though, it’s about time I went and waxed laconic for several hours.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.