NASA announced a five-part plan for opening the ISS to commercial use. The plan, released as part of NextSTEP (the agency's Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships program, not the mid-90s groundbreaking operating system), defines commercial access to the ISS. It includes a pricing schedule, makes available a docking port on the Harmony module#Connecting_modules_and_visiting_vehicles) for commercial spacecraft, and permits private astronauts on the ISS as soon as 2020 (however, these will not be the first visitors to the ISS; seven paying private citizens have visited the station eight times since 2001, all via Space Adventures). Approved access to the station will require alignment with NASA's mission, the need for a microgravity environment, or be an activity that supports establishing an on-orbit economy. The agency will initially allocate 175 kg of cargo launch capability for commercial uses ($3K/kg, in single cargo transfer bag equivalents, which are just slightly larger than the average US carry-on size limit) and two 30-day private astronaut missions (which will cost roughly $35K/day, in addition to launch costs) annually. NASA also invited companies to submit proposals for modules that could be attached to the ISS. This plan for the ISS will be followed up next month with a free-flying LEO commercial space stations announcement. Related: Bigelow Aerospace announced it had made “significant deposits” to send 16 people to the ISS on four SpaceX launches.
From this week's Orbital Index.
Submitted June 11, 2019 at 12:21PM by tectonic http://bit.ly/2MFrBIg
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