KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Boeing's (BA) Starliner space taxi could see demand from tourism and foreign governments, potentially lowering costs enough for space flight to be accessible beyond the very rich.
X
NASA has contracts with Boeing and Elon Musk's SpaceX for separate spacecraft and launch services to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, ending the space agency's reliance on Russian Soyuz capsules.
While NASA currently is the key customer for the Boeing Starliner, the company is exploring ways to extend its space taxi service to other passengers.
We've seen "a lot of interest from both paying passengers but also other companies and other nations that are either part of the space station community and want additional access or are building their own destinations," said John Mulholland, the Boeing Starliner program manager.
Space Adventures, a space tourism company that has sent seven customers on Soyuz capsules, has shown interest in the Starliner, he added.
"NASA is receptive to it," Mulholland said of space tourism. "As soon as we demonstrate the capability, they will work with us."
Other space companies are already booking tourist missions. In September, SpaceX said Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa bought a ticket for an undisclosed amount to circle the moon in the Big Falcon Rocket, along with several world-renowned artists.
Blue Origin will put "people in space this coming year" aboard its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle and reportedly will charge passengers $200,000-$300,000 for the first trips.
Virgin Galactic plans to take tourists into space on the SpaceShipTwo for $250,000 but hopes for prices to fall to $40,000-$50,000 in the next 10 years.
Boeing shares edged down 0.9% to close at 341.57 on the stock market today.
Hailing A Boeing Starliner
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner will reach space on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. SpaceX is building the Crew Dragon capsule to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Initial test flights with astronauts aboard are scheduled for next year.
Mulholland wouldn't name which companies or countries would be interested in Boeing Starliner service. But he said the countries include current ISS partners and countries that are looking to build a space program.
Boeing also has plans to reach destinations in low Earth orbit that are in addition to the ISS, though Mulholland couldn't comment on them.
But several private companies like Bigelow Aerospace, NanoRacks and Axiom Space are looking to build their own space platforms.
And in 2016, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg offered an ambitious vision for a commercialized space industry that could include hotels as well as companies engaged in research and manufacturing, with Boeing providing the spacecraft to ferry people into space, according to Bloomberg.
Making Space More Affordable
Mulholland said there are a lot of parallels between the emergence of commercial human space flight and commercial aviation.
"High-wealth individuals and government sponsorship turned it into a thriving industry," he said of commercial aviation's early years.
Like with commercial flight, Mulholland said the company needs to bring Boeing Starliner space taxi ambitions to scale to drive costs down, so space flight isn't just exclusively for the ultra wealthy.
YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN:
Best Stocks To Watch: These Outperform 95% Of All Stocks
How The International Space Station Could Operate Commercially
