NASA is opening the International Space Station for commercial business.
There will be up to two short private astronaut missions per year. The missions will be for stays of up to 30 days. As many as a dozen private astronauts could visit the ISS per year, NASA said.
These travelers would be ferried to the orbiter exclusively by the two companies currently developing transport vehicles for NASA: SpaceX, with its Crew Dragon capsule, and Boeing, which is building one called Starliner.
These companies would choose the clients and bill for the trip to the ISS, which will be the most expensive part of the adventure: around $58 million for a round trip ticket.
But the tourists will also pay NASA for their stay in space, for food, water and use of the life support system on the orbiter, about $35,000 per night per astronaut.
