NASA has announced the reception of proposals for holding two subsequent private missions to the International Space Station (ISS). These will be the fifth and sixth missions under the Low Earth Orbit Commercialization Initiative, which aims to replace the ISS with private stations in the future.
One of the important innovations in the selection is the possibility to appoint not only former NASA astronauts as mission commanders, and veterans of Canada's space agencies, Europe or Japan - on condition, that they have relevant experience of being on the ISS.
According to the current rules, the commander must have:
- no less 30 days of stay at the station;
- experience, received in the last five years, or undergo an appropriate training upgrade.
However, now companies can additionally offer an alternative commander — a representative of the CSA, ESA what JAXA, — which will meet the same requirements.
This opens up new opportunities for those, who already works in the private space sector. Example, in 2024 Axiom Space has added former ESA astronaut Tim Peake and ex-JAXA astronaut Koiti Wakata to its team, who also expressed a desire to go into space again — this time from a team from the Asia-Pacific region.
Axiom is currently a single company, that received all previous NASA contracts for private flights to the ISS: one mission each year with 2022 by 2024 year. Her next mission, Ax-4, expected no earlier than May 2025 year.
This time the competition, probably, will be higher. Example, company Vast, which also plans to create its own space station, announced her intention to apply for the next selection.
NASA continues to allow up to two such missions per year, although the pace of one mission per year is currently maintained. The fifth flight (PAM-5) scheduled not earlier than May 2026 year, and the sixth (PAM-6) — to the middle 2027 year.
Source: https://spacenews.com/nasa-seeks-proposals-for-two-private-astronaut-missions-to-iss/