Image Credit: Axiom Space
Space tourism firm Axiom Space is offering people the opportunity to spend ten days aboard the space station.
Based in Houston and founded by former International Space Station manager Michael T. Suffredini, the company has plans to not only offer trips to the ISS but to also build and launch its own modules.
Eventually, these will detach and become an independent facility known as the Axiom International Commercial Space Station.
This week the firm has revealed its price for a full ten-day stay aboard the ISS – $55 million – which will cover, not only the orbital stay, but also transportation and a 15-week astronaut training program.
The goal will be to launch the first module in 2019 and the first commercial customers in 2020.
“It is an honor to continue the work that NASA and its partners have begun, to bring awareness to the profound benefits of human space exploration and to involve more countries and private citizens in these endeavors,” Suffredini said in a statement.
The interiors of the new modules will be designed in partnership with French architect Philippe Starck.
“This is a dream project for a creator like me with a genuine fascination for aviation and space exploration,” he said. “The greatest human intelligence in the world focuses on space research.”
Source: Space.com |