A Private Company Is About to Send the First Paying Crew to the International Space Station
May 12, 2021 at 02:26AM Outer space is rapidly becoming Outer Space, Inc., as the rise of private launch providers is making it increasingly easy to turn a buck in an industry that was once exclusively a not-for-profit government operation. The commercialization of low-Earth orbit took a big step forward yesterday, with NASA’s announcement that the space agency has inked a deal with Houston-based Axiom Space , in which Axiom will fly the first purely commercial crew to the International Space Station (ISS)—and pay NASA handsomely for the privilege. “We are excited to see more people have access to spaceflight through this first private astronaut mission to the space station,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, during a May 10 press conference. “This is another first for human space flight,” added Phil McAlister, NASA’s director of commercial spaceflight development. “I’m very bullish on the commercial crew market.” I...