SpaceX Elona Musk announced that it has signed an agreement with startup Axiom Space, which plans to deliver tourists and private researchers to the International Space Station (ISS). Passengers will be flown into orbit on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, along with a certified flight commander.
The first Axiom mission could begin as early as the second half of 2021, according to a joint press release. Space tourists will be able to spend at least eight days on the ISS before returning to Earth.
“This will be the first of many missions to the ISS to be fully controlled and operated by Axiom Space - a first for a commercial organization,” said Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini. “The provision of transportation marks significant progress towards this goal.”
Project participants declined to provide pricing, but previous tourist missions to the ISS cost passengers tens of millions of dollars.
The Axiom Space travel mission could mark the first ever use of a US spacecraft to deliver tourists to the ISS. Currently, cargo and passengers are delivered to orbit by Russian Soyuz.
Over the past two decades, the ISS, which is essentially a giant orbiting laboratory, has hosted a rotating staff of astronauts from the United States and dozens of other countries. NASA has talked at length about encouraging commercial activity on the space station, which orbits about 200 miles above the ground.
A NASA spokesman said Axiom's tourism development plan is in line with its "broad strategy to promote the commercialization" of space. However, the agency's priority is to get the Crew Dragon ready for their own astronauts.
The space industry could soon become a tourism revolution if SpaceX and others bring their plans to life.
Two American companies - Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin - are developing vehicles for suborbital space tourism. They will offer short flights about 60 miles above the surface of the Earth, allowing tourists to admire the views of our planet and feel a few minutes of weightlessness.
