Russia plans to allow paying tourists who visit the International Space Station (ISS) to go out on spacewalks. Russia's Energia is also building a "comfortable" new module to transport tourists to the ISS:
Russia is planning to send paying tourists on the International Space Station out on spacewalks for the first time, an official from the country's space industry said Thursday.
"We are discussing the possibility of sending tourists on spacewalks," Vladimir Solntsev, the head of Russian space company Energia, told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. "Market analysts have confirmed this: wealthy people are ready to pay money for this," Solntsev told the paper.
He said the cost of such a trip could be around $100 million (80 million euros), "possibly less for the first tourist". The tourists will be able to "go out on a spacewalk and make a film, (or) a video clip".
Energia, which was behind the launch of the first man in space Yuri Gagarin in 1961, is currently building a new module dubbed NEM-2 to transport tourists to the International Space Station (ISS). Solntsev said the NEM-2, the name of which is still to be confirmed, will accommodate four to six people. It will be fitted with "comfortable" cabins, two toilets and internet access.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by pe1rxq on Friday February 02 2018, @10:04PM (3 children)
It seems the russians announce a new spacship every few years, but none ever fly.
Rember Kliper? PPTS? Parom? Years of promisses and no actual flights.
The only realistic thing they have is continuous small improvements to Soyuz and that will probably stay that way for the next years to come.
Note that other countries are not that different, launching people into space is a complex thing. Even with the best intentions most projects will fail to get of the ground.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday February 02 2018, @11:35PM
I see what you did there!
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @09:35PM (1 child)
In other news, americans cancel even what they already have and rely on russian liars to send their heroic astronauts in space.
(Score: 2) by pe1rxq on Saturday February 03 2018, @10:50PM
To be honest the thing the americans already had was the result of 'Lets build a space-minivan' combined with 'What could go wrong if we strap it to the side of a rocket instead of on top'