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."

Comments

Want to widen it's appeal? How about a lottery?

[Rick Schumann]

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.

On what spacecraft?

[Enigma2175]

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?

Good, NASA needs some independence

[DanDD]

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.