NASA recently announced at the Nasdaq stock exchange that it was opening the International Space Station (ISS) to for-profit activities including marketing, advertising, off-Earth manufacturing – and even tourism. “We’re enabling up to two commercial flights with private astronauts per year,” said NASA’s ISS Deputy Director, Robyn Gatens. “So, depending on how many seats they want to carry, that would be a dozen or so private astronauts potentially per year on the International Space Station.” Gatens later added, “private astronauts from other countries can fly through a US entity”. That means ISS passenger-guests do not need to hold a US passport or hail from a space-faring nation. They do need to book their training, their ride and their up-to-30-day stay through an American space carrier.
