By Douglas Helm 18 seconds ago
It seems that the four space tourists who recently went to the International Space Station should extend their vacation in space a little more. Earlier this month, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully launched three passengers and a former NASA astronaut into orbit. This was the first time an exclusively private company-funded crew went to the ISS. The mission was drafted by SpaceX and Axiom Space and was to take place over ten days. It seems that the mission has now been extended to about 12 days. Fortunately, it seems that the private crew on the International Space Station is not very scattered about development. In fact, during a live-streamed event where the crew answered questions from children at NASA’s Houston Space Center, they said they would be willing to go to the Moon next. While the Moon is a much larger and more expensive target than the International Space Station, this is undoubtedly the way space tourism is headed. Crew members on the current mission spent about $ 55 million per person to head to the ISS, so the cost of a trip to the Moon would probably be much higher. In addition, there is currently no spacecraft ready to transport civilians to the Moon. So it seems that these eager tourists should just enjoy the two extra days they have. The International Space Station’s private crew is currently scheduled to disengage on Tuesday and land in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. A successful landing will mark the end of the first privately funded voyage and will help demonstrate the potential of the fast-growing space tourism industry. Axiom Space, one of the companies behind this mission, even wants to develop its own space station. While visiting the ISS should be one of the coolest experiences out there, the station is designed for research, observation and exploration. Obviously, the Axiom station will be designed with tourism in mind, making it a completely different experience from the ISS. Hopefully by then they will not be charging $ 55 million per trip. NASA has already approved Axiom for its next private space mission, so it is clear that cooperation between the government agency SpaceX and the growing space tourism company is something that will continue to grow in the future. With SpaceX constantly developing more affordable means of space travel with more affordable production, NASA’s years of research and technology, and the money and innovation Axiom brings to the table, the future of commercial spaceflight and space hotels may be earlier. than we all believe. SpaceX, for its part, continues to test and develop the Starship spacecraft designed to carry crew and cargo. This is a much larger and more powerful spacecraft than the Dragon and will probably be used to transport humans, tourists and astronauts to space stations, to the Moon, and even to Mars. So, if your dream is to visit space, you can get your wish soon – if you have the cash to fill it.
