An intriguing figure

A Space Adventures press release today marking the fifth anniversary of Dennis Tito’s flight to the ISS claims that the company’s “efforts in offering commercial seats to the public have resulted in $120 million (USD) worth of orbital spaceflight sales.” The company has so far flown or signed up five people—Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Daisuke (Dice-K) Enomoto, and Charles Simonyi—but using the widely-reported “list price” of $20 million a set, that adds up to only $100 million. Has Space Adventures signed up a sixth, as-yet-unannounced tourist? (Remember that prior to the Simonyi announcement earlier this month, Anousheh Ansari had been considered by many to be the next tourist after Enomoto, given that she was training in Russia to be his backup.) Or is the list price actually higher than $20 million: at least $24 million, if not higher (given that it’s widely believed that Tito paid less than $20 million for his flight)?

2 comments to An intriguing figure

  • Geoffrey

    Additional Space Adventures revenues might be from their zero-g flights, jet fighter flights, etc. Technically not space adventures, but ‘near space’ adventures. They also have programs that charge for training and sims for wanna-be astronauts.

  • […] So could she account for that “extra” $20 million not otherwise accounted for in the company’s press release last week marking the fifth anniversary of Dennis Tito’s flight to the ISS? It turns out that, by coincidence, there was a plenary session about Space Adventures Friday morning at the ISDC, with company president Eric Anderson and recent ISS tourist Greg Olsen among those speaking. Before the session I talked with another company official, who declined to offer any confirmation about Ansari’s status and whether she represented that extra $20 million. In a brief conversation after his speech, Anderson didn’t offer any confirmations, either, although he did note that, hypothetically, “I wouldn’t go through that training if I wasn’t going to fly myself.” When asked about the extra $20 million, he first seemed to indicate that it was actually deposits for suborbital flights, but then later said, “so that makes it $140 million.” The press release itself states that the $120 million the company has received in revenues has been for orbital spaceflights. (See Alan Boyle’s Cosmic Log entry on the same and related subjects.) […]

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