Movie stars, philanthropists and entrepreneurs: with its future "tenants", the ISS does its business

In addition to its function as a laboratory, the International Space Station will soon also serve as a vacation resort, and a studio for big-budget films.

While it had not welcomed any tourists since 2009, the ISS is preparing to accommodate in the coming months nine passengers, transported via four different flights and whose presence on board will have no scientific object.

And that's probably just the start.

On May 13, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, 45, would take place in a Soyuz module on December 8 towards the ISS.

The wealthy founder of the online clothing store Zozotown will spend 12 days in orbit, accompanied by his assistant Yozo Hirano, also a film producer and responsible for documenting the adventure.

The stay aboard the ISS is only a first step for the online fashion mogul, as he is already preparing a trip around the Moon in 2023 aboard a Starship rocket, designed by the SpaceX company.

A vast selection process has been taking place since March to designate, from among the more than 500,000 candidates for departure, the 8 travelers who will make up the crew alongside Maezawa.

Yulia Peresild beats Tom Cruise

Before that, from October 5, 2021, Roscosmos will send a film crew to the ISS in collaboration with the first national television channel. The space agency had been deciding for several months on "medical and creative" criteria of actresses to shoot in weightlessness scenes of the Russian production "Challenge". This casting like no other delivered its verdict on May 13 in favor of actress Yulia Peresild, 36, twice awarded the Golden Eagles, the Russian equivalent of the Caesar, including once as best actress. On the other side of the camera, director Klim Shipenko, 37, will also be on the trip. This will be his second space film after Salyut 7, released in 2017, inspired by real events that took place in the former space station of the same name, and also awarded the Golden Eagles.

The 'Challenge' movie: medical review results.

The Commission recommended to nominate:

🚀 Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko as the prime crew;

🚀 Alyona Mordovina and Alexey Dudin as the backup crew.

The launch of the # SoyuzMS19 spacecraft on October 5: https://t.co/3mndCBRXnu https://t.co/9xGqLJIN7U

- РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) May 13, 2021

Yuilia Peresild and Klim Shipenko will therefore shoot the first film ever made in space, thus beating the pawn of Hollywood productions.

Before the announcement of the film "Challenge", this premiere was initially due to Tom Cruise.

But the director Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Memory in the skin) and the star of Mission Impossible will not join the ISS until early 2022, aboard a Crew Dragon capsule, built by SpaceX.

Three first customers for Axiom

Only seven non-professional astronauts had flown to the ISS between 2001 and 2009, but space tourism seems to be experiencing a new lease of life.

For Xavier Pasco, director of the Foundation for Strategic Research, this rapid development “comes as NASA is gradually withdrawing from the station.

It refocuses its activities on the lunar program, and delegates transport and logistics to private partners ”, one of which is obviously SpaceX.

Dispossessed of its monopoly on manned space flights, which it held from 2011 to 2020, Roscosmos is seeking to fill the seats left vacant on its Soyuz capsules, and is also opening up to space tourism.

The provision of the ISS for non-scientific activities will take a new step in early 2022 with the first fully private flight to the station, organized by an agency specializing in space travel, Axiom. The first customers of this American company founded in 2016 are already known. Three businessmen, entrepreneurs and philanthropists will participate in the Axiom 1 mission, for ten days aboard the ISS: the American Larry Connor (71 years old), the Canadian Mark Pathy (51 years old), and the Israeli Eytan Stibbe (63).

Unlike the tourists of the 2000s who were content to accompany regular missions, the commercial flights organized by Axiom "are conceived as services where everything is invoiced, NASA is almost in a position of lessor of infrastructure with its ISS modules ”, notes Xavier Pasco.

“The flight crew will not be made up of any active professional.

"

An era of cohabitation aboard the ISS

To supervise this crew, Axiom nevertheless offers the services of former NASA astronauts. This first flight will be supported by Michael Lopez-Alegria, with 248 days in space and 10 extra-vehicular outings to his credit. Peggy Whitson, the woman with the longest time spent in space (665 days in 3 missions) and former collaborator of Thomas Pesquet in the ISS, could also return to space during an Axiom mission. Maybe on the second flight, with Tom Cruise?

Commercial flights to the ISS are set to become commonplace, and Axiom has even planned to move certain modules dedicated to tourism there for 2024. “This may be ushering in a new era, and opens the door to private astronauts. who pay for their trip ”concedes Xavier Pasco,“ but the resort remains above all a public infrastructure and an international cooperation program. The private activity of the ISS will remain non-priority and will coexist with the crew without disrupting their scientific missions. "

Ultimate precision, and not the least, if the adventure tempts you: unlike professional astronauts, individuals traveling to the ISS will have to pay their place and the ticket to the stars costs today a little more than 50 million dollars. . Unless you successfully pass the selection for the circumlunar flight of Yusaku Mezawa, these experiences in weightlessness will therefore not be within the reach of all comers.