The company is currently building a new module dubbed NEM-2 to transport tourists to the ISS, which will feature “comfortable” cabins, two toilets and Internet access–enough to accommodate four to six people.
Space travel may well be making a regular appearance in travel itineraries soon with Russia tipped to send paying tourists to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time, an official from the country’s space industry said on Thursday (February 1).
“We are discussing the possibility of sending tourists on spacewalks,” Vladimir Solntsev, the head of Russian space company Energia, told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda.
He said the cost of such a trip could be around US$100 million – “possibly less for the first tourist”.
The company is currently building a new module dubbed NEM-2 to transport tourists to the ISS, which will feature “comfortable” cabins, two toilets and Internet access–enough to accommodate four to six people.
The module is set to be launched in 2019, said Solntsev. And five to six tourists a year will be able to take a space trip lasting up to 10 days.
The project has since garnered the interest of American aircraft manufacturer Boeing.
The developing space tourism sector has been dominated by Western companies such as the US-based Virgin Galactic, which unveiled its commercial SpaceShipTwo in 2016.
In 2009, Russia sent the Canadian founder of the Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte into space; he spent two weeks on the ISS.
Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari became the first female space tourist in 2006.