Comments on: Vast signs deal with SpaceX for two ISS tourist missions

By: Edward

Edward — Sat, 21 Dec 2024 06:31:12 +0000

“Axiom has the advantage it has done it before, but the rumors that it lost money on those flights and now has a cash shortage work against it.”

If Vast or Axiom charge more this time than Axiom did the previous times, then we may have our answer as to whether Axiom lost money on those previous flights.

By: Mark Sizer

Mark Sizer — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:52:05 +0000

If one removes the “million” from the prices, looking at it as loss-leader until they get their own destination seems more reasonable. Selling something for $55 when it costs you $150, now, but is expected to be “free” in a few years is not unreasonable. Presumably there will be internal line-items moving money from “launch price” to “accommodation costs”, but externally it’s all the same company.

It’s the extra zeroes that are scary. Hopefully they can manage.

By: mkent

mkent — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 21:36:51 +0000

I’m pretty sure Axiom will get at least one of the slots. For flight five they’ve partnered with the UK Space Agency for an all-British spaceflight. British astronaut Tim Peake is coming out of retirement to command the mission. It’s the sort of mission — partnering with foreign space agencies — that NASA and their overseers in Washington like.

Axiom simply isn’t charging enough for these types of missions. They’re reportedly paying SpaceX $150 million for the flight and millions more to NASA in hosting fees but are only charging $55 million per ticket. That’s not enough margin on three tickets per flight to make a profit.

ESA is making far more money on these flights than Axiom is. They inserted themselves between Axiom and the European governments making these deals, in some cases even after the deals were already made. For example Sweden reportedly paid ESA over $100 million to fly an astronaut on Axiom 4 after the deal with Axiom had already been announced. ESA then paid Axiom their $55 million fee and pocketed the rest. Sweden was unhappy with that but agreed to it in the name of “European unity.”

I think Axiom set their ticket price as low as they could to attract individual buyers, but the institutional market price is obviously higher than that. Axiom should claw some of that money back from the middleman, IMO.