Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s space exploration company has partnered with a tourism business to send private citizens into space.
SpaceX announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Space Adventures, a space tourism company that has helped send seven private individuals to the International Space Station on board Russian spaceships. The companies expect to make their first commercial flight in 2021 or 2022, according to the Verge. The companies provided little information about the joint venture, not commenting on what preparation or training customers would need in order to participate.
SpaceX is the first company to get approval for human space travel as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, according to the New York Post. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will fly SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft from Florida to the International Space Station in early May. The company’s tourism venture will use a module based on the Dragon.
SpaceX competed with Boeing to be the first commercial company to carry NASA astronauts to space. Boeing was an early favorite but lagged behind SpaceX in hitting the necessary milestones.
NASA’s space shuttle program saw its final liftoff in the summer of 2011, and ever since then, the agency has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, for seats on flights launching from Kazakhstan to the ISS.
NASA started the Commercial Crew Program to find an alternative to U.S. astronauts hitching rides into space on Russian spacecraft.
Crew Dragon in Florida ahead of its flight to and from the @space_station with @NASA astronauts @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug onboard! pic.twitter.com/nerz0Qujso
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 14, 2020
SpaceX’s partnership with NASA was threatened after its Dragon capsule exploded in April 2019, completely destroying the model. SpaceX was testing thrusters designed as a safety mechanism to push the capsule that holds the astronauts away from the main thrusters in the event that something goes wrong during the initial launch and liftoff.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed at the time that SpaceX’s Dragon testing would be delayed while NASA and SpaceX investigated what went wrong and fixed the error. SpaceX later blamed a faulty valve.
