Back to the game
For the first time since Russia stopped its orbital space tourism program in 2010 due to the growing size of the International Space Station’s crew, the country’s space agency Roscosmos is returning to the game.
The country plans to send two tourists to the station in 2023 inside a Soyuz spacecraft, according to the Agence France-Presse. One of them will even perform a spacewalk outside the station, something that has never been attempted before, since such a mission requires extensive and expensive training.
Space adventure
Roscosmos is partnering with the Virginia-based space tourism company Space Adventures for the tourism program. The Russian space agency has already sent seven citizens to the station with the help of the company.
“A private citizen completing a spacewalk would be another great step forward in private space flight,” said Eric Anderson, CEO of Space Adventures, in a statement. “We appreciate the opportunity to celebrate two decades of orbital space tourism with our Russian partners, opening another first experience.”
SpaceX connection
The news comes after SpaceX successfully launched two NASA astronauts to the station using their reusable Crew Dragon capsule.
Plans to use the same shuttle for space tourists are already in the works. SpaceX announced its own partnership with Space Adventures in February, an interesting connection, as there is at least some bad blood between SpaceX and the Russian space program.
READ MORE: Roscosmos says it will send two tourists to the space station in 2023, and one of them will do a spacewalk[[[[The edge]
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