SpaceX Commercial Space Flight To ISS Costs $52M Per Person

Shortly after NASA announced its plans to open commercial spaceflights for tourists to the International Space Station (ISS) via SpaceX, details regarding the trip’s cost have started to emerge. According to new reports, a ticket to the ISS costs a whopping $52 million.

Details regarding the ticket price came from a press release by Bigelow Aerospace, a Nevada-based tech startup that manufactures expandable space station modules.

According to Robert Bigelow, the company’s president, the firm’s subsidiary Bigelow Space Operations (BSO) has recently deposited a huge some of money to acquire four seats aboard a SpaceX spacecraft for its upcoming commercial launch to the ISS.

Bigelow noted that for now, his company is targeting to sell each ticket for $52 million. He said that the trip to the ISS can last for one to two months.

The value of the ticket certainly seems a bit much but considering all of the costs related to safely sending a person to space for 30 to 60 days, the hefty price tag is justifiable.

Recently, NASA released a pricing policy for its planned commercial flights to the ISS. According to the policy, a chunk of the revenue from ticket sales will be allocated for providing the basic necessities in space such as life support, food, oxygen, medical supplies and power.

NASA noted that since U.S. regulations prevents the agency from directly competing with private companies when it comes to commercial matters, there is a chance that the price of a ticket to the ISS can get cheaper.

According to the space agency, it is willing to turn-over the responsibility of providing the necessary resources needed for sending humans to space to a private company that is capable of doing so.

“NASA is restricted from competing with the U.S. private sector; therefore, if, at any point, a U.S. Entity is available to provide any of these resources, NASA shall, to the best of its ability, migrate the provision of such services to the non-U.S. government provider,” NASA mentioned in its policy.

It is not yet clear when commercial flights to the ISS will begin but according to Bigelow, preparations can already be made once NASA certifies the SpaceX spacecraft that will be used for the trip.