US space companies to fly tourists into orbit higher than Int'l Space Station

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U.S. space tourism company Space Adventures said Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with SpaceX to launch private citizens on Crew Dragon spacecraft into an Earth orbit higher than International Space Station (ISS).

Space Adventures said the mission would last five days and is expected to launch between "late-2021 to mid-2022," flying up to four passengers to Earth orbit.

It came after the U.S. space agency NASA announced in June of 2019 that it was opening the ISS for private citizens, under its Commercial Crew Program, including the rocket-and-capsule systems being developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

"This is a free-flyer mission. No visit to the ISS. Will attempt to reach 2-3x higher altitude than station," said Eric Anderson, founder of Space Adventures.

"At an altitude of ~3x the ISS, the view is ~10x, as it increases by square of altitude," said Anderson. The average altitude of ISS orbit is about 400 kilometers.

"This historic mission will forge a path to making spaceflight possible for all people who dream of it, and we are pleased to work with the Space Adventures' team on the mission," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement.

In March of 2019, SpaceX's Crew Dragon completed its end-to-end unpiloted flight test to the ISS and back to Earth. Musk, SpaceX founder, said in January of 2020 that the first crewed mission for NASA is expected to take place in the second quarter of this year.

Space Adventures has previously arranged eight orbital trips to the ISS for seven wealthy customers, using Russian Soyuz space capsules. Its latest travel service in 2009 was reportedly priced at 35 million U.S. dollars for an 11-day trip. 

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