The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the United States Space Agency, plans to open the International Space Station to tourists from 2020. This will come at a cost of $35,000 per night.
Private astronaut missions for up to 30 days will now be allowed in the International Space Station. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Boeing are two organizations that have collaborated with NASA to develop the capsules to carry the astronauts to the Space Stations. These two organizations will deal with any matters related to private tourists.
.@Space_Station is open for commercial business! Watch @Astro_Christina talk about the steps we’re taking to make our orbiting laboratory accessible to all Americans. pic.twitter.com/xLp2CpMC2x
— NASA (@NASA) June 7, 2019
The Deputy Director of ISS, Robyn Gatens said that there will be two short private astronaut missions per year.
To reduce the overall operating costs of the space agency, the commercialization of the space station has been a long-proposed idea. Earlier, though, any commercial use of the space station was prohibited by NASA.
However, NASA does not own the International Space Station. It was built in 1998 in collaboration with Russia, Canada, Japan and other European nations.
What is the International Space Station?
The ISS is a habitable artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. It is also the largest human-made body in low orbit Earth and can be seen with the naked eye from Earth. It is a space environment research laboratory, whereby crew members conduct various experiments in various fields such as meteorology, physics, and human biology.
According to the NASA website, “The International Space Station Program brings together international flight crews, multiple launch vehicles, globally distributed launch, operations, training, engineering, and development facilities; communications networks, and the international scientific research community.”
Interestingly, the ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000.
