My friend Clark Lindsay over at Hobby Space points to some Tweets from Jeff Foust, who is attending the Space Vision conference.
Foust quotes Peter Diamandis of Space Adventures as saying that the cost of a Soyuz tourism flight has now reached $45 million. This is an increase from the reported $35 million that Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte spent for the most recent flight last month. It is also nearly four times greater than the reported $12 million that the first space tourism, Dennis Tito, back in 2001.
NASA will be paying the Russians about $51 million per seat to fly its astronauts to the International Space Station after it retires the space shuttle fleet late next year. The end of shuttle flights – and the recent doubling of the station’s permanent crew to six – means that seats on Soyuz are more rare – and thus more valuable. It is not clear when space tourism flights will resume, although Russian officials have mentioned 2011-2012 as a possible time frame.
Similar Posts:
- Anderson: Additional ISS Space Tourism Flight Possible in September
- Space Tourist Simonyi Blasts Into Space for Second Time
- NASA to Pay Russians Nearly $56 Million Per Seat for Soyuz Rides
- Happy Birthday, Space Tourism!
- Is Laliberte the Last ISS Space Tourist for Years?
