SpaceX will fly space tourists on Crew Dragon for Space Adventures

Space.com ^ | 02/18/2020 | Tariq Malik

[BenLurkin]

Under the agreement, Space Adventures will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon vehicle to fly up to four passengers to Earth orbit. The trip will not visit the International Space Station. Instead, it will remain in orbit as a free-flying spacecraft.

To date, Space Adventures has arranged eight orbital trips to the International Space Station for seven wealthy customers: Dennis Tito in 2001; South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth in 2002; American entrepreneurs Greg Olsen in 2005 and Anousheh Ansari in 2006; Microsoft co-founder Charles Simonyi (twice) in 2007 and 2009; computer game developer Richard Garriott in 2008; and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte in 2009.

Those spaceflights all cost tens of millions of dollars, with Laliberte's flight costing a reported $35 million for his 11-day trip. The passengers, called "spaceflight participants," flew to and from the station on Russian Soyuz space capsules under agreements between Space Adventures and Roscosmos, Russia's space agency.

SpaceX or Space Adventures did not announce exact pricing for the Crew Dragon tourist flight, but the cost per seat is expected to be in the same range of other commercial spaceflight opportunities.

As for timing, it's likely that the free-flying Crew Dragon flight will launch only after SpaceX begins flying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Those trips are expected to begin later this year.

SpaceX (and rival Boeing) have multi-billion-dollar contracts to fly astronauts on round trips to and from the space station. In 2019, SpaceX performed a successful uncrewed test flight to the station with Crew Dragon, following it up with a launch abort test last month.

[Moonman62]

SpaceX or Space Adventures did not announce exact pricing for the Crew Dragon tourist flight, but the cost per seat is expected to be in the same range of other commercial spaceflight opportunities.

...

I’ve seen estimates of $10 to $15 million.

I’m not sure why SpaceX is doing this. They have better ways of making money like Starlink. Perhaps they want the publicity or to offset the cost of the flight which maybe a test.

[SunkenCiv]

Under the agreement, Space Adventures will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon vehicle to fly up to four passengers to Earth orbit. The trip will not visit the International Space Station. Instead, it will remain in orbit as a free-flying spacecraft.

[Redwood71]

Even the uber looked good before it hit someone in the crosswalk.

Think about this, according to the United States Space Surveillance Network, there are more than 21,000 objects larger than 10 cm orbiting the Earth. Just a small fraction of these are operational satellites. It’s estimated there are a further 500,000 bits and pieces between 1 and 10 cm in size. And almost all of them at those speeds can do a variety of damage. It’s like crawling into the passenger seat of a destruction derby car at Islup, NY. Try missing something you can’t see until it is on you.

Have a good flight and thanks for flying Stupid Airlines. There will be no need to understand the rules for the door seats as there aren’t any.

rwood

[VanDeKoik]

“Think about this, according to the United States Space Surveillance Network, there are more than 21,000 objects larger than 10 cm orbiting the Earth. Just a small fraction of these are operational satellites. It’s estimated there are a further 500,000 bits and pieces between 1 and 10 cm in size. And almost all of them at those speeds can do a variety of damage. “

Yeah?

It’s also called SPACE for a reason.

It’s like the assumption that the “asteroid belt” is this massive pile of rocks barely inches from each other.

[ThunderSleeps]

Perhaps they want the publicity or to offset the cost of the flight which maybe a test.

That would be my guess - good PR for their launch vehicles. They may be (I hope?) a little reluctant to do too much testing of new tech on manned flights. But I'm sure they learn at least a little bit with every flight. So if you can get someone else to pay while you gain experience...why not?

[Moonman62]

I’m thinking this may be for their first free flight. They should have a few manned flights to the ISS by then.

[Redwood71]

“It’s also called SPACE for a reason.”

The trip is not going beyond earth orbit. If they were going out into actual space away from the earth then there is no real crowded items till the moon. But they are staying in the earth’s orbit. And that’s where the trash and active satellites are.

rwood