Why SpaceX and Boeing Can Sell Commercial Space Taxis to Private Travelers – GeekWire

RENTON, Wash. – When NASA's Phil McAlister signed contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, he made sure that they could win the prize. 39, silver on the side.

The contracts contain a clause that allows companies to offer to place a private participant in one of the additional seats aboard the Dragon Space or Boeing Starliner spacecraft, said McAlister, director of commercial space flight development at headquarters of NASA.

"Contractually, we put an anchor point," McAlister said at the Space Frontier Foundation's annual NewSpace conference in Renton. "I made sure it was there, it was very important that this ability be in the contract."

The clause comes into effect once SpaceX and Boeing get their certified space taxis for the flight, which could happen next year.

Paid passengers could then be added to the crews of four people that the companies are contractually required to wear for NASA.

"If Boeing and SpaceX have a spaceflight participant that they want to put on one of our flights, they propose that NASA, we evaluate it … we have to make sure that the space station can have it." To accommodate, "said McAlister. "But the contractual capacity to do it is there."

Previous passengers, including the Seattle area billionaire and twin astronaut Charles Simonyi, have followed months of training at the Russian cosmonaut complex Star City. Do not expect NASA to do the same at the Johnson Space Center in Texas.

"Companies are supposed to do the training," said McAlister. "They are on the hook … NASA could have some repayments to help with that, because we have a lot of infrastructure, but they are responsible for the training." That was another key thing for the commercial team.I wanted the government as much as possible from this business, so is not it? So we wanted end-to-end services. "

One of the potential buying agents for these extra seats is Axiom Space based in Texas. This month, Axiom announced that it is offering a $ 55 million travel package including 15 weeks of training and a 10-day orbital stay. Axiom said that travel could begin as early as 2020 – first at the International Space Station, and possibly at its own autonomous outpost in Earth orbit.

NASA's current development plan provides that SpaceX and Boeing will send unmanned space taxis to the space station in August, followed by a crewed demonstration flight in December, and then certification. However, this calendar should largely skid. In his speech, McAlister said only that crewed flights would begin "very soon".

"I am alternately excited and anxious," he said. "I'm like," Yay! … "Oh my God!"

Between Boeing and SpaceX, eight crew-capable spacecraft are currently in production, McAlister said. He estimates that the average price per seat rises to $ 58 million, compared to about $ 80 million that the Russians charged NASA for each seat on a Soyuz spacecraft.

At Space Naval El Centro in Southern California, SpaceX recently completed its 16th test of the Dragon Crew parachute system – verifying the system's ability to slow down the crew's Dragon and ensure a safe landing in the aircraft. unlikely possibility of a low-level abortion. https://t.co/OOQnAtNXJ3 pic.twitter.com/kFX7Qth3AK

– SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 26, 2018

Simulated spaceship, actual results. #BoeingSpace, @NASA and @ The US Army the teams had their first #Starliner landing and recovery drills this week at @WSMissileRange. We are about to bring @NASA_Astronauts the house safely from @Space station! pic.twitter.com/vjEGIatIhy

– Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) June 8, 2018

Will the price go down further as commercial flights get bigger? McAlister pointed to the example of climbing expeditions to Mount Everest. In the 1940s, Everest shipments cost about $ 350,000. Today, the equivalent cost can go up to $ 35,000 (although the total is almost certainly higher when extras are taken into account).

McAlister said that statistics show that on average, Everest climbs have become safer and cheaper. The same trend could apply as commercial flights increase, he added.

"When we started to form sales teams, it was one of the biggest concerns: putting human lives in the hands of the private sector," said Mr. McAlister. "We do this all the time, there are markets all the time where the private sector is responsible for critical operations for human security, it can be very good, sometimes even better."

Certainly, spaceflight is riskier and more expensive than climbing, and governments have historically kept almost exclusive control over the use of spacecraft. It will take time for the market to mature for companies like SpaceX, Boeing and their future competitors. For these reasons, McAlister does not expect change to happen overnight.

"It will take more time than we all hoped for, but we are on the way," he said. "The historical constraints to this market are about to change, and I think when that happens, people will find new things to do there."

The first tourists in space may have been content to stay on the space station for about ten days, but McAlister said that next-generation space passengers could trigger a spiral of space. 39; activity.

"They will discover new things that they want to do, these new things will attract more people," he said. "More people, lower costs, more market … I think it's going to really feed, I can not say for sure, but I can see a lot of the same attributes in the Everest model on the point of 39 come into play for commercial human space flight. "