Traveling into space isn’t cheap, and the famous proverb ‘it will cost u an arm and a leg’ can be seen implemented here as three men are paying USD 55 million each to fly on a SpaceX rocket.
An American real estate investor, a Canadian investor, and a former Israeli Air Force pilot are paying USD 55 million each to be part of the first fully private astronaut crew to journey to the International Space Station in the SpaceX rocket.
The crew will be traveling to space on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule early next year, with a veteran NASA astronaut as the commander.
Staying on the space station will have a hefty price tag, according to NASA’s 2019 announcement.
It will cost $11,250 per astronaut per day to use the life support systems and toilet, $22,500 per day for all necessary crew supplies (like food, air, medical supplies, and more), and $42 per kilowatt-hour for power.
This totals to a nightly rate of about $35,000 per person.
The Ax-1 mission, arranged by Houston, Texas-based space tourism company Axiom Space, is a defining moment for the space industry as companies race to make space travel more accessible to private customers.
The crew’s flight to the space station, an orbital laboratory some 250 miles above Earth, will take two days.
They’ll then spend about eight days aboard the station’s US segment, where they’ll take part “in research and philanthropic projects.
NASA updated its policies in 2019 to allow private astronaut flights to the ISS as part of a broader push to encourage commercial opportunities in space.
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The Ax-1 mission was announced early last year, it is the second space tourism effort for SpaceX.