Fly Me To The Moon

Fly Me to the Moon

Last week, NASA announced that it is opening up the International Space Station to businesses and tourists.

The space agency will allow private individuals – or “private astronauts” – and companies to lease out its part of the international orbiter for limited time periods, the Independent reported.

The price tag hasn’t been established but it won’t come cheap, and individuals will need to go through medical examinations and training to take part in missions of up to 30 days.

Companies, though, can bring their own equipment to the space lab and borrow NASA astronauts for commercial projects – meaning that advertisements and movies may soon be shot in space.

For a long time, the agency hesitated to commercialize its activities and the space station, strictly prohibiting objects that didn’t have an educational or research component from entering the floating lab.

But NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine is open to policy changes that could provide new sources of revenue for the government agency and help it develop space technologies in the future.

“I’m telling you, there is interest in that right now,” he said during a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council in August.

Aspiring astronauts can finally make their dream come true – for a hefty price.