Space is the limit!…except for the whole cost thing.
Oct 23rd, 2011 by Karen Lee
Space: The Final Frontier
How many of us have wanted to be an astronaut, exploring the mysteries of space? Well, it seems like the wait is over. Bigelow Aerospace is intent on building space habitats. However, their plans have been pushed back due to the delayed development of American space taxis.
Space habitats from Bigelow
At the moment, the only countries that has the ability to fly people into orbit is China and Russia. Russia has been charging USD$50 million per person for a ride. This is not only hindering the Bigelow’s developments, but also NASA’s: they are paying $450 million per year to fly their astronauts to space.
So what should the Americans do? Their government is hesitant to grant NASA the $850 million necessary to build the taxis by 2016. They argue that this is all they will need and if it is not attained, money will have to be paid to the Russians anyway. As Alan Boyle’s blog post suggests, this is not entirely true. Costs for developments as well as crew are projected to rise, so money necessary will also rise. However, in the long run, the money spent will be compensated. It is definitely a race against time to finish their space taxis.
Link to articles: Bigelow’s space habitats; NASA’s costs
Image credits: Space view; Bigelow space habitat