Since the exploits in the summer of 2020 of billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, space tourism has really been born. In just a few years, numerous projects and just as many companies have emerged to allow ordinary people to go into space. Usually for a very large sum of money.
In the list of these companies wanting to realize one of the last billionaire dreams still unattainable, we can add “Vast Space” for a few days. The young company based in the United States has just formalized the signing of a partnership with SpaceX on December 19.
Two flights to the ISS
The latter plans two commercial and tourist flights to the ISS carried out by SpaceX for the benefit of Vast Space. These are two short-term missions which should allow Vast Space to have its first customers, while awaiting NASA’s agreement to send tourists into space without necessarily going through the ISS (the space station international).
In the words of Max Haot, Managing Director of Vast, the agreement signed in the middle of December with SpaceX is another step in the company’s development. In particular, it should “strengthen our collaboration with NASA”.
For her part, Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, says she is “delighted” to work with Vast for new space missions. For now, SpaceX has already carried out space tourism missions with the private company Axiom (which notably designed NASA’s next suits).
Space tourism, the new fashion
The signing of this new contract confirms that space tourism is on the rise. Although this practice is criticized by many people, starting with environmental defenders who see it as one more way of killing the planet. Space tourism seems to be a growing market with ever more numerous missions.
Virgin Galactic, a pioneer company in this market, has nevertheless demonstrated that it is very difficult to sustain a stable economic model with space tourism. Although the ticket price for a few minutes in space is already very large, most of these companies operate at a loss, hoping to achieve profitability with a larger customer list.
A question of schedule for NASA
At the moment, there are two types of tourist flights in space. The first, but also the cheapest, is to do a “flea jump” above the karman line. This flight only lasts a few minutes; you feel the sensation of weightlessness during the descent.
The other solution, much more expensive, is to fly in a PAM. These manned missions allow you to spend a few days in orbit around the Earth, particularly in the ISS. This is the type of flight that Vast Space wants to offer with the help of SpaceX.
However, going to the ISS is not done like that, you need the agreement of NASA. A precious sesame difficult to recover. NASA has already announced that manned tourist missions to the ISS would be limited. Today we are talking about one or two PAMs per year.
Will the arrival of Jared Isaacman, a great friend of Elon Musk at the head of NASA, change anything in this state of affairs? It’s likely.
