NASA opens space station for private astronaut missions

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NASA is proposing to launch private astronaut missions to the International Space Station as early as 2020, the agency announced Friday.

As part of its directive to open the station for commercial purposes, the US Space Agency will support up to two private astronaut missions in the space station each year. Missions can last up to 30 days each.

Private astronauts will bring a NASA-approved commercial space vehicle to the space station, and will perform commercial and marketing work on the station or in workspaces attached to the station, according to NASA's press release.

These are work trips, according to NASA's directive issued Friday (PDF).
SpaceX Crew Dragon moored to the space station in demonstration flight

Your job must either connect to NASA's mission; require the space station's "unique microgravity environment" for your manufacturing, production or development process; or "support the development of a sustainable LEO (Low Earth Orbit) economy".

You must also be fit, adhere to NASA's strict medical standards, and the training and certification requirements of the space station.

And that will cost you: over $ 35,000 per night for room and meals – and air – at the International Space Station.
And it will cost millions to come and go, since your transportation to the station must take place in an American spacecraft developed as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

The launch of private astronaut missions is part of a larger effort to expand the commercial activity of the space station beyond the research and development activities currently limited by the mandate of the ISS National Lab.

NASA's most recent directive is supposed to allow "commercial manufacturing and production and allow private astronauts and NASA to conduct new commercial activities aboard the in-orbit lab".

In a separate research release, NASA identified several requirements to be met, including a feasibility assessment, before such missions were allowed.

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