NASA has announced the requirements for companies that want to compete for the right to carry out the next two manned private missions to the ISS. On the one hand, the conditions have become stricter. On the other hand, candidates have more opportunities to win.
Private missions to the ISS
On April 2, NASA announced the terms of the competition for the next two missions under the ISS private manned spaceflight program. In previous years, Axiom Space has already proved that this idea, despite its complexity, is worth realizing.
NASA considers private space flights to the ISS as a stage towards the realization of the concept of non-state space stations, which should replace it by the end of this decade. During them, the scientists plan to transfer their experience to the companies.
Given this, some slightly updated rules for participation have been developed. At their center is the question of the competence of the mission crew commander. It is still necessary for him to have experience of ISS management in the past. But now, in addition to this, the candidate should also participate in programs related to the ISS activities for the last 5 years or undergo special retraining.
Fighting for a place in the program
At first glance, the new requirements would seem to severely narrow the pool of candidates for the private mission commander position. However, the opposite is actually true, as there are a few more items in the new rules that have not been there before. In particular, the alternate mission commander can be not only from NASA, but also from Canadian, European and Japanese space agencies.
There is also now a point in the rules according to which even if a candidate does not meet the requirements but has some experience, his candidacy (and consequently the entire mission project) can be considered separately. All of this may make it easier for new players to enter this extremely narrow niche.
The previous four private manned missions were carried out by Axiom Space. This is not surprising given that this company should build one of the aforementioned private space stations in the future. And it also remains the top candidate to carry out the fifth and sixth flights.
Axiom had already hired former astronauts Tim Peake and Koichi Wakata last year. The latter is very important as it could potentially lead a crew of Asian Pacific people. Therefore, the company is firmly in the lead.
But this time it may have competition, such as Vast, which is also planning to build its own station. And all this is happening against a background of uncertainty about when the two flights are due to take place. Previously, the rule of thumb was “one private mission per year,” but now NASA says they should now happen twice as fast. Therefore, whether it is 2026 or 2026 and 2027 is still unclear.
According to spacenews.com
