NASA has to pay SpaceX $ 55 million for each space shuttle
- Tram Ho
The mission to send NASA astronauts to space is named Demo-2, all crews will be on the International Space Station in a few days.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has just completed a successful test of escape ability in Crew Dragon’s flight on the night of January 19.
According to Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s Space Agency director, if everything goes as planned, the SpaceX Group’s Crew Dragon will be ready to send two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). ) in the first quarter of 2020.
Speaking to the press after the test, Elon Musk said the company expects all hardware details will be ready by the end of Q1:
“We are very confident that the hardware will be ready in the first quarter, and it is likely to be completed sooner by the end of February but certainly the completion schedule will not exceed March. And we think there is it looks like the first crew launch will happen in the second quarter “.
According to a NASA report published at the end of 2019, each year, NASA buys the right to send about 70 people to space, and must pay the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) about 3-4 billion dollars. On average, the cost to send each astronaut into space is more than 55 million.
NASA’s original plan was to send astronauts to the Space Station for a few weeks, but for the time being, they are considering keeping them on the ISS to conduct research for longer periods. Space administrator administrator Jim Bridenstine said a long-term mission outside of Earth would require and require additional training for the crew:
“If that mission will take longer then we must have some additional training for astronauts so they can do everything on the International Space Station that the original plan did not have. Because so we have to consider that and make a decision. ”
Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who will go to the ISS, said they will be excited to see everything go as planned.
SpaceX previously only put goods on the ISS. According to founder Elon Musk, SpaceX is focusing on fixing the system problem despite helping the spacecraft land back to earth. Musk hopes to deliver Crew Dragon to NASA by the end of the year, but insists the launch will be delayed if a technical error is found.
NASA has paid SpaceX more than $ 3.1 billion, after winning a contract for manned flight missions in 2014. When these missions are officially started, they will also pay the private company $ 55 million each with astronaut seats on a flight.
In 2011, NASA closed its Space Shuttle program and relied on space agencies from other countries such as Russia, to send their astronauts into space. If SpaceX’s upcoming mission is successful, it will reduce the number of countries it is dependent on and thus save money in the future.
Source : Genk