Science & Technology
NASA requests proposals for two ISS private astronaut missions
NASA has called for proposals for two private astronaut missions to the International Space Station in 2023 and 2024, enforcing a requirement such missions be commanded by former NASA astronauts.
NASA said on Wednesday it was seeking proposals for the third and fourth private astronaut missions, or PAMs, to the space station, with the proposals due October 27.
One mission would fly between late 2023 and mid 2024, and the other in the second half of 2024, depending on overall ISS schedules.
The first PAM, the Ax-1 mission by Axiom Space, flew to the station in April.
NASA selected Axiom last December for the second PAM, Ax-2, and finalized the agreement for that mission last month.
Ax-2 is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2023 on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
As part of the agency’s broader low Earth commercialization strategy, NASA will allow up to two private missions to the ISS each year, each lasting up to two weeks, to help industry build up experience for future commercial space stations that will succeed the ISS.