The interest in space tourism projects is increasing day by day. The first to open the door of this sector was Russia, which sent billionaire businessman Dennis Titov into space in 2001. In fact, it is known that a film crew shot various shots in the ISS last year.
Then, Russia shared with the public its efforts to monopolize the industry with 2 new Soyuz MS vehicles that will come off the production line by 2024. But the US side, especially NASA and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, is quite ambitious in this regard.
NASA is sending civilians to the ISS as part of its space tourism project!
Jeff Bezos’ aerospace research company Blue Origin, consisting of civilian passengers – including William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in Bezos and Star Trek movies – and the Karman Line for a few minutes. The last successful launch was only the beginning of what was to be done on the US side.
Because NASA, SpaceX and Blue Origin companies are taking various steps, some joint and some individual space tourism projects. Chief among these are flights to the ISS. In fact, the launch, which was expected to take place on April 3, would have taken place in February, unless there was a last-minute delay.
However, Texas-based Axiom Space, the organizer of NASA’s first civilian visit to the ISS, marked the end of March instead of February due to the mission team’s spacecraft preparations and space station traffic. However, after the negotiations between the two sides, it was decided on April 3rd.
Therefore, on Sunday, April 3, with the finalized date, a 4-person private astronaut task force consisting of civilians that will be launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to go to the ISS, Musk’s now will exceed the atmosphere with the Falcon 9 rocket, which has become the most reliable in the industry. Then they will travel in the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which is also made by SpaceX, and arrive at the International Space Base.
The Ax-1 mission, organized by Texas-based Axiom Space, included the 4-man private astronaut task force of Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy, American entrepreneur Larry Connor, former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe, and a former NASA mission commander Michael López. It will be created by Alegria.
It is claimed that the cost of this 1-week space tourism trip to be organized by NASA to the ISS is 55 million dollars per person. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin was asking for $50 million each for a trip that took them out of the atmosphere for a few minutes. Therefore, a trip to the ISS is relatively more attractive.
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