SpaceX plans to launch three space tourists to ISS in second half of 2021 van
SpaceX plans to bring three private space tourists to the International Space Station in the second half of next year. A Falcon 9 rocket and the Crew Dragon capsule will be deployed for this. That capsule has not yet been tested with humans on board.
The “tourist flight”, which serves no scientific purpose, is part of an agreement that SpaceX has entered into with the company Axiom Space. The choice for the start-up from Houston does not come out of the blue; the company was chosen by NASA at the beginning of this year to build private modules for the ISS. The modules should be docked to the space station in the second half of 2024.
The flight, which is scheduled to take place sometime in the second half of 2021, will be the first fully private flight to the ISS. A professional Axiom-trained commander is accompanied by three private space tourists. They will stay in the space station for at least eight days. Axiom does not report how much the three tourists will pay for their ISS return ticket, but the rate per seat is probably around 55 million dollars. Ultimately, Axiom wants to offer more of these types of tourist flights.
SpaceX has more plans to monetize space tourism. For example, the company announced last month that it has entered into an agreement with Space Adventures. The plan is to send four space tourists around Earth in the Crew Dragon capsule in late 2021 or early 2022. In addition, they will fly two or three times as high as the ISS; the space station flies at more than 400km.
The Crew Dragon is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The goal of that program is to no longer be dependent on Russia for manned transport to the ISS. In addition to the Crew Dragon, Boeing is also participating with its Starliner capsule, and Sierra Nevada Corporation is building the Dreamchaser. SpaceX conducted another successful in-flight abort test in January, in which the capsule sat atop a Falcon 9 rocket and launched itself away from the launcher. This is an important capability to ensure the safety of the astronauts in case something should go wrong. The first test flight with people on board could take place in April or May.