An increase in Soyuz production has enabled space tourism firm Space Adventures to market three seats a year on the spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS) from 2013.
The agreement with Russia’s Federal Space Agency (FSA) and…
An increase in Soyuz production has enabled space tourism firm Space Adventures to market three seats a year on the spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS) from 2013.
The agreement with Russia’s Federal Space Agency (FSA) and manufacturer RSC Energia will see the production of Soyuz increase from four to five spacecraft per year.
Space Adventures has so far sent seven clients to the ISS, since flying the world’s first private space explorer in April 2001.
On September 30, 2009, Guy Laliberte, founder of Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil, became Space Adventures’ seventh and latest private spaceflight client.
“Since Guy Laliberte’s mission, there has been an increase of interest by private individuals, organisations and commercial entities seeking ways to access the space station,” said Space Adventures chairman Eric Anderson after announcing the Soyuz agreement. We have been speaking with these parties about science, education and multi-media programs and hope to make some major announcements in the coming year.”
Each Space Adventure flight lasts for approximately ten days, while contributing to the increase of launch capacity to the ISS.
According to Anderson, cumulatively, Space Adventures’ clients have spent almost three months in space, travelling more than 36 million miles.
Alexei Krasnov, director of human spaceflight at FSA, said: “We are very pleased to continue space tourism with Space Adventures. Also, the addition of a fifth Soyuz spacecraft to the current manifest will add flexibility and redundancy to our ISS transportation capabilities.”
