In NASA’s new contract with Russia to launch astronauts to ISS Russia has raised the ticket price from $63 million to $70.6 million per seat.
The competition heats up: In NASA’s new contract with Russia to launch astronauts to ISS, announced today, Russia has raised the ticket price from $63 million to $70.6 million per seat.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union the Russians have become very good capitalists indeed. Consider: the price the Russians were charging for a single ticket on Soyuz was about $33 million in 2004, when George Bush announced the planned retirement of the shuttle. Since then they have repeatedly jacked up the price, knowing that we have no where else to go.
In the end, these price increases are actually a good thing, as they will make it easier for the new American companies to undercut them while simultaneously making a bigger profit.
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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The competition heats up: In NASA’s new contract with Russia to launch astronauts to ISS, announced today, Russia has raised the ticket price from $63 million to $70.6 million per seat.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union the Russians have become very good capitalists indeed. Consider: the price the Russians were charging for a single ticket on Soyuz was about $33 million in 2004, when George Bush announced the planned retirement of the shuttle. Since then they have repeatedly jacked up the price, knowing that we have no where else to go.
In the end, these price increases are actually a good thing, as they will make it easier for the new American companies to undercut them while simultaneously making a bigger profit.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
http://www.citizensinspace.org/2013/04/will-nasa-cut-commercial-resupply-services/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=will-nasa-cut-commercial-resupply-services
SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are about to discover what a “contract” with the government actually means.
Govt. makes the penalties, they don’t take the penalties.
I have to agree. Anything that promotes the private sector aerospace industry is a good and, I also believe, economically healthy thing not only for this country but for the world. Also, as a fellow lover of all things outer space, it’s not slipped by me that our continuing involvement in space commerce keeps the doors wide open for better and alternative funding for the continued exploration of our cosmos and I find that to be encouraging as well as exciting. Of course, my famous Soviet Russian character, Zangief, as quoted in Street Fighter IV, when asked what he thought of the new Russia, called it “a pussy capitalist regime”. LOL! He drinks a LOT of vodka. ‘Nuff said.
Always a pleasure to hear you on the radio and I miss your wonderful laugh. Let’s all do dinner when you’re in New York.
Mike Fass
Zangief from “Street Fighter: The Later Years”
Yo Mike,
To quote Bob Herzberg, “Whatever.”
Seriously, glad to hear from you. I hope all is well in New York, though I can tell you without doubt that things are better here in Arizona.
My sister, Arline, will agree with you, I’m sure. She’s living out in Suarita right at the desert’s edge. Plus the array of stars visible in our small neighborhood in the spiral arm of the Milky Way from Arizona is spectacular beyond description! The average New Yorker who’s never been outside city limits would probably think there are only between 18 and 20 stars in visible range of our side of the Earth, LOL!
Hope you’ll shoot me an email when you get a chance so I can give you my new number. Otherwise I’d have to quote from one of Mr. Herzberg’s favorite western movie lines, “What kind of a man are you, Zimmerman?”
LOL! Love ya, Bob!
>..In the end, these price increases are actually a good thing, as they will make it easier for the new
> American companies to undercut them while simultaneously making a bigger profit…
That would of course first need there to BE any American companies that could offer competing services. First launch of commercial crews not for abut 4-5 years – add a couple years to certify and be ready to carry folks — course the stations not scheduled to stil be flying then.
Then of course you’d need to be cost competitive. Each Falcon/Dragon launch costs NASA $400 M in total costs (no Bob, $140M is just the launch cost paid to SpaceX, not the total costs to NASA.) so if they lift 4 folks a trip – $100M a seat for NASA. More then that could exceed ISS’ carrying capacity, but if you assume 6 passengers, its still $67M per seat, compared to the russians $70.6 million per seat, assuming no price increases at all to fly crew vrs cargo on a flight – and assuming ISS can suppoprt 6 and has lifeboat capacity for them.
I think the Russians have judged the market correctly.