SpaceX Paves Way for Tourist Flights on Crew Dragon Spacecraft
Boeing executives have also said their Starliner ship may host private tourists on some flights.
(Bloomberg) -- SpaceX will fly up to four paying customers aboard its Crew Dragon under an agreement that opens the way for private space tourism aboard a vehicle built to ferry U.S. astronauts.
Space Adventures, a booking agent based in Washington D.C., did not specify any price for the private orbital flights when it announced the arrangement Tuesday. The company has previously arranged several tourist flights aboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.
“This historic mission will forge a path to making spaceflight possible for all people who dream of it, and we are pleased to work with the Space Adventures’ team on the mission,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement.
Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is one of two companies NASA has hired, along with Boeing Co., to fly astronauts to the space station aboard new spacecraft. According to the deal with Space Adventures, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon will double as a tourism ship.
SpaceX flew a demonstration mission to the space station in March; Boeing’s first test flight in December was cut short by a software glitch that prevented the CST-100 Starliner vehicle from docking with the ISS. NASA, Boeing and an independent review board are analyzing data from the flight to determine if a second uncrewed test flight is required.
Boeing executives have also said their Starliner ship may host private tourists on some flights.
Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., another player in the space-tourism field, surged 18% at 10:17 am in New York trading Tuesday to $33.72, a new 52-week high. The stock has almost tripled this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Bachman in Dallas at jbachman2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Susan Warren
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