SpaceX and Nasa bring space tourists to the ISS for the first time

Mission start

All three are to carry out a series of experiments on the ISS.

(Photo: Reuters)

Cape Canaveral The private space company SpaceX and NASA have transported paying guests to the International Space Station ISS for the first time. The three entrepreneurs, who each paid $55 million for their tickets, took off from Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in Florida on Friday.

The space tourists from the USA, Canada and Israel were accompanied by the experienced ex-astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. They are expected on the ISS on Saturday and will spend more than a week there.

For the company SpaceX, owned by billionaire and Tesla boss Elon Musk, it is the first flight with private guests to the ISS, after having transported supplies there in recent years and, since 2020, also astronauts for NASA. In 2021, a billionaire and three guests orbited the earth for three days with SpaceX.

Russia, which organizes its own flights to the ISS from its spaceport in Kazakhstan, has been letting guests onto the ISS for years – and before that onto the Mir space station. Last fall, for example, a Russian actress and a director were there to shoot a film. In December, a Russian Soyuz capsule transported a Japanese fashion entrepreneur and his companion to the space station.

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The American Larry Connor, the Canadian Mark Pathy and the Israeli Eytan Stibbe came into orbit with the SpaceX mission. “It was a great ride,” said astronaut Lopez-Alegria upon reaching orbit. He had been on the ISS for seven months 15 years ago.

Photo released by SpaceX of the crew on the Dragon spacecraft

“It was a great ride,” said astronaut Lopez-Alegria upon reaching orbit. Photo: Uncredited/SpaceX/AP/dpa

(Photo: dpa)

In addition to transport, board and lodging, the tickets for the three guests include access to all areas of the ISS except for the Russian area. They must obtain permission from the cosmonauts.

All three are to carry out a series of experiments on the ISS. That’s why they can’t be called space tourists, said Michael Suffredini of the Axiom company, which organized the trip. “They’re not up there to press their noses against the window.”

More: Elon Musk’s SpaceX shoots four space tourists into space alone – it’s a daring experiment

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