NASA Launches Private Astronaut Mission; Space Tickets Worth $55 Million – Report
KEY POINTS
NASA and Axiom have teamed up to launch a private astronaut mission set to bring civilians to outer space no earlier than January 2022
Tickets to the International Space Station are priced at $55 million each, reports say
The four-man crew will be led by former NASA astronaut and space station commander Michael López-Alegría
NASA and Houston-based startup Axiom Space have partnered to launch the world s first-ever commercial spaceflight mission. The private astronaut mission headed to the International Space Station (ISS) is set to take off no earlier than January 2022, the space agency has revealed.
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STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION
A view of the Atlantic Ocean from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA
NASA and Houston-based Axiom Space have signed a “mission order” setting the stage for four civilians to visit to the International Space Station early next year, the first fully commercial flight to the orbiting lab complex, agency managers said Monday.
First fully civilian flight to space station moves forward with NASA contract By William Harwood
May 10, 2021 / 8:05 PM / CBS News
NASA and Houston-based Axiom Space have signed a mission order setting the stage for four civilians to visit the International Space Station early next year, the first fully commercial flight to the orbiting lab complex, agency managers said Monday.
Axiom s AX-1 mission and an upcoming charity-driven flight to low-Earth orbit, both aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon capsules, represent a renaissance in U.S. human spaceflight, said Phil McAlister, NASA s director of commercial spaceflight development. I think that s the perfect word for what we re experiencing, he said of the growing commercial space market, which includes the anticipated certification of Boeing s CST-100 Starliner and upcoming sub-orbital flights by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. This is a real inflection point, I think, with human spaceflight.
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STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION
Entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and a veteran jet pilot with more than 6,000 hours flying time, is chartering a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to low-Earth orbit for a purely private, non-government mission that will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Isaacman is shown here at the controls of a Crew Dragon simulator. Image: SpaceX.