Space Adventure plans to send Japanese billionaire and online retail mogul Yusaku Maezawa to the International Space Station (ISS) via Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. This came after company President Tom Shelley revealed that their SpaceX reservation had expired.
Both countries are waiting for December to arrive before launching this non-professional venture. Space Adventure is the first company in the United States to offer paid space travel. The business will use the Russian Soyuz rocket for all of its space travel, from launch to landing. Customers will be placed in the ISS on a free return trajectory around the Moon on this Starship for recreational purposes.
The forthcoming mission is scheduled to launch on December 8 from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. Shelley told National Post that a seat aboard the Russian spacecraft is supposed to cost in the amount of $50 million to $60 million.
Space Adventures Opts For Russian Soyuz Instead of SpaceX
After delaying excursions due to NASA booking seats on the Russian-operated space voyage, Space Adventure is making the first launch of a Japanese customer to the International Space Station. The trip was postponed for a while since no other vehicle could complete the space travel route.
The business said that its planned trip, which is slated for late 2021 to early 2022, will create a new "global altitude record for private citizen spaceflight" by flying at least twice as high as the International Space Station (ISS).
This now-privatize sector has become a multibillion-dollar industry populated by multi-national corporations and governments. Although the relationship between Moscow and Washington has deteriorated over various political topics, Shelley claims that space was an exception.
Company spokesperson Stacey Tearne told Space News that they advertised the mission to many of our prospective customers. However, Tearne acknowledged that the balance of price, timing, and experience wasn't appropriate at that particular moment.
Shelley said collaboration in space particularly appears to overcome political differences between the US and other countries.
About Space Tourism
Breaking Travel News said space tourism is an exciting new type of travel that has exploded in popularity in recent years, boosting the worldwide tourist economy. Top-tier firms such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are causing a stir worldwide by conducting commercial space trips for consumers willing to pay a premium. In the year 2000, the Russian Space Agency is said to have pushed orbital tourism, with passengers being carried into space.
Science Times said Blue Origin Company's spaceship, New Shepard, transported the 90-year-old William Shatner into space. He is most recognized for his portrayal as Captain Kirk in the Star Trek film franchise. The 90-year-old actor is the third person of this age to be propelled into space. These recreational, commercial space trips are considered as paving the road for space tourism.
There are many opposing viewpoints on space tourism and exploration. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, told the BBC (via Science Times) that great brains and minds should heal Earth instead of moving to another planet. However, the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs head Simonetta Di Pippo thinks otherwise.
Di Pippo told The National while visiting Dubai's Expo 2020 that space tourism has a lot of pros and may help encourage humanity to maintain their planet.
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