Space tourists can blast off to ISS next year for RM230m per ticket

PETALING JAYA, March 6 — If you have hundreds of millions of ringgit lying around, you could be jetting off to the International Space Station (ISS) as early as next year.

Axiom Space, run by former National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) ISS programme manager Michael Suffredini, published a statement revealing plans to launch the world’s first fully private human spaceflight to the ISS in the second half of 2021.

The company signed a contract with SpaceX to transport a commander professionally trained by Axiom alongside three private astronauts on a Crew Dragon spacecraft for the 10-day trip, and The New York Times reports that tickets will cost US$55 million (RM230 million) each.

Some of the perks include spending at least eight days in microgravity at an altitude of 402 kilometres and unbeatable views of Earth from the ISS.

Suffredini said the history-making flight will mark a pivotal moment in “the march toward universal and routine access to space.”

“This will be just the first of many missions to the ISS to be completely crewed and managed by Axiom Space ― a first for a commercial entity,” he said in the statement published on Axiom’s website.

Axiom plans to offer professional and private astronaut flights to the ISS at a rate of up to two per year to align with flight opportunities as they are made available by Nasa, while simultaneously constructing the first “commercial space station”.

Private astronauts are expected to complete physical and medical checks before signing on for the mission, at which point a 15-week training course kicks off.

Axiom said that upon returning from space, individuals often experience a renewed perspective of life and humanity.

“When someone returns from space, they are imbued with an aura reflecting their thirst for knowledge, their bravery, and their contribution to the human story.

“Having hovered, weightless, in a glittering field of stars, they are one of still fewer than 600 in human history to have answered the call to lead us out of the cradle,” read a blurb on the website.