Room for one more? Virginia-based Space Adventures announced Thursday that it will add another seat to a Soyuz spacecraft that will take space tourists into low-Earth orbit by 2015.
Working with Rocket Space Corporation Energia, Space Adventures will add a second habitation module to the Soyuz TMA lunar complex, which will take those with (a lot) of extra cash around the moon.
"Space Adventures will once again grace the pages of aerospace history, when the first private circumlunar mission launches. We have sold one of the two seats for this flight and anticipate that the launch will occur in 2015," Richard Garriott, vice chairman of Space Adventures, said in a statement. "Having flown on the Soyuz, I can attest to how comfortable the spacecraft is, but the addition of the second habitation module will only make the flight that more enjoyable."
About that price. Space Adventures Tom Shelley told Space.com that its trips to the International Space Station, which normally take one person at a time, can set someone back between $20 million and $50 million. The lunar trip, however, could cost up to a whopping $150 million, Shelley said.
Space Adventures has flown seven spaceflight participants on eight missions to the ISS. The company is currently celebrating the 10th anniversary of the first orbital spaceflight, manned by Dennis Tito (video below).
Space Adventures estimates that by 2020, about 140 people will have been launched into orbital space. That could include private individuals, corporate, university and non-profit researchers, lottery winners, and journalists. Destinations would include the International Space Station, commercial space stations and orbital free-flys, the company said.
"The next 10 years will be critical for the commercial spaceflight industry with new vehicles and destinations coming online," said Eric Anderson, Space Adventures chairman. "But, in order to truly develop the industry and extend the reach of humanity over the course of time, there will need to be breakthrough discoveries made and innovative propulsion systems designed that will bring the solar system into our economic sphere of influence."
In September, Boeing partnered with Space Adventures to sell commercial space flights on the Boeing Crew Space Transportation spacecraft. Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft can fit seven people, and is expected to be operational by 2015. Last year, Boeing received a $50 million grant from NASA to work on commercial transport of space station crew and the development of human spaceflight opportunities. Boeing was one of five companies that received a total of $50 million from the government space agency as part of the stimulus package.
Another company exploring commercial space flight is Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. Earlier this week, one of Branson's spaceships completed a re-entry technique known as a "feather" configuration for the first time.
In April, meanwhile, commercial spaceflight company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) unveiled plans for the Falcon Heavy (above), which SpaceX said will be the world's largest rocket.