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<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Inspiration <keyword id="47638" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars">Mars</keyword> Foundation</p></div>Last week, multim<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">illionaire <keyword id="1141272" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dennis-Tito">Dennis Tito</keyword>, 72, <a href="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=40141">announced in a press release</a> that he was planning "a historic journey to Mars and back" in January 2018. </span></p>
<p>More details were revealed in a news conference in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Feb. 27. </p>
<p>Here's what you need to know.</p>

Here's The Crazy Plan To Send A Married Couple To Mars 

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dennis_Tito.jpg">Wikipedia</a></p></div><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Millionaire <keyword id="1141272" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dennis-Tito">Dennis Tito</keyword>, 72, became the first private citizen to fly into <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> in 2001. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Now the <keyword id="6359301" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Entrepreneur">entrepreneur</keyword>, who made is fortune as the founder of California-based investment firm <span>Wilshire Associates,</span> is reportedly planning to send two astronauts to <keyword id="47638" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars">Mars</keyword> in 2018, according to <a href="http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/21/17038750-how-a-millionaire-spaceflier-intends-to-send-astronauts-past-mars-in-2018">NBC News' Alan Boyle</a>. </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">According <a href="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=40141">to a press release</a>,<span> The Inspiration Mars Foundation, a non-profit organization led by Tito, will "<span>launch an [sic] historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days, starting in January 2018."  </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">There are few details otherwise on the mission right now, but Tito is holding a press conference next week. Presumably, we'll get more information on his plan then. <br /></span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><span><a href="http://www.newspacejournal.com/"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Soyuz_TM-32_crew.jpg">Wikipedia</a></p><p class="caption">Tito spent eight days on the International Space Station in 2001.</p></div></span></a>Until then, <a href="http://www.newspacejournal.com/">the NewSpace Journal obtained a copy of a paper</a> that Tito plans to present at the <span>IEEE Aerospace Conference on March 3, which offers more specifics. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Here's what we know based on NewSpace's report:</span></p>
<ul>
<li>The mission would be manned </li>
<li>A crew would fly by Mars, but not actually land on the surface or orbit around it </li>
<li>It would launch in January 2018, possibly using a modified SpaceX Dragon spacecraft </li>
<li>There are no details about cost</li>
</ul>
<p class="p2">The plan seems pretty flimsy right now. But then again, it's not the first time in the last few years that someone has proposed a mission to Mars. </p>
<p class="p2">L<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">ast June, a company called Mars One, founded by </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Dutch entrepreneur Bas Lansdorp, </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="Dutch%20entrepreneur%20Bas%20Lansdorp,">announced it was planning a one-way trip to the Red Planet in 2023</a>.  </span></p>
<p class="p2"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">NASA also has ambitions to send astronauts to Mars by 2035. Their Curiosity rover is currently up there exploring the dusty planet, beaming back tons of information every day — <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/astronauts-could-survive-radiation-on-mars-2012-12">like how much radiation hits the planet's surface</a> — that scientists hope will aid in a future manned trip.  </span></p>
<h3><strong>Now Watch:</strong> Meet Romo, The iPhone-Robot That's Bringing 'Toy Story' To Real Life<br /><br /></h3>

<div id="ooyalaplayer" style="width: 618px; height: 347px;"> </div>
<script type="text/javascript">// <![CDATA[
OO.ready(function() { OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer', '1hdDRpOTr0yr36Sg88NIxstiBxua5Rpg'); });
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This Millionaire Is Reportedly Planning A Trip To Mars Within Five Years 

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronaut-warns-tourists-that-spaceflight-is-uncomfortable-risky-2021-8">Space tourism</a> is blasting off. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-02-space-flight-launch-live-updates-2023-8">Virgin Galactic just flew its first tourist crew</a>, with plans for monthly trips.</li><li>If someone gets <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/hidden-costs-pregnancy-giving-birth-saving-money-2022-8">pregnant</a> in space, the radiation could harm them or their embryo, scientists say.</li></ul><p>Let's talk about <a href="https://www.insider.com/sex-in-space-space-sexology-astrosexology-2023-7">space sex</a>.</p><p>So far there have been no reports of cosmic coitus, but more and more people are taking a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-the-high-risk-trips-wealthy-travelers-are-booking-2023-6">pleasure cruise in Earth's orbit</a>. It may just be a matter of time until somebody starts the 250-mile-high club.</p><p>Since billionaires <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-richard-branson-spaceflight-2021-7">Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson raced to the edge of space</a> two years ago, orbital tourism has taken off.</p><div type="image" title="new shepard reusable rocket launch 2016 blue origin" height="1080" width="1440" msid="102587803" hostid="261"></div><p>Branson's company, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-blue-origin-spacex-commercial-space-flights-tourism-cost-2023-7">Virgin Galactic, successfully flew its first space tourists</a> on Thursday, and plans to conduct similar flights every month.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk">SpaceX</a> launched its third batch of people who aren't professional astronauts into space in May.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-yusaku-maezawa-japanese-billionaire-flying-to-the-moon-with-spacex-2018-9">Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa</a> has booked a trip around the moon on the company's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-mega-rocket-too-powerful-first-orbital-launch-2023-4">Starship mega-rocket</a>, which made its first attempt at launching to orbit in April. Entrepreneur Dennis Tito has booked two seats on a similar Starship lunar flight — one for himself, and one for his wife.</p><p>If they can shell up enough cash, wealthy people around the world can book a vacation beyond it, lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks. Some companies even aim to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-hotels-could-launch-in-2021-photos-2019-10">build hotels in Earth's orbit</a>.</p><p>"It is unrealistic to assume that all space tourism participants will abstain from sexual activities," researchers <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/7852203#.ZGOnGezMJz9">wrote</a> in a green paper on the subject earlier this year.</p><div type="image" title="Sharon and Marc Hagle kiss outside the Blue Origin capsule after arriving back on Earth." height="2003" width="2670" msid="102587805" hostid="261"></div><p>That's why, they argue, spaceflight companies should be proactive and talk to their customers about cosmic coupling and its risks.</p><p>If somebody gets pregnant — on purpose or otherwise — there's a chance that the background <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-antigravity-radiation-affect-human-body-2019-9">radiation of space</a> would harm a freshly fertilized egg cell, even if they're only in space for a day or two after the act, two space researchers told Insider. There's no telling how that would affect the rest of the pregnancy.</p><p>"These high-energy deep-space-radiation particles, some of them pass right through the vehicle and right through people. And so in theory, if one of them is coming through and it just so happens to hit a developing embryo, what effect would it have on that?" <a href="https://www.bcm.edu/people-search/kris-lehnhardt-25298">Dr. Kris Lehnhardt</a>, who leads NASA research on medical systems for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-artemis-accords-deep-space-exploration-moon-mars-asteroids-comets-2020-10">deep-space exploration</a>, told Insider.</p><p>That's an open question, Lehnhardt said, but "the consequence of someone becoming pregnant in space could be very high."</p><h2>The dangers of unfettered space fornication</h2><div type="image" title="Starship spacecraft test flight in Texas." height="815" width="1087" msid="102587806" hostid="261"></div><p>It may not even be possible to get pregnant in space, but it's probably not worth taking the chance.</p><p>There has been very little research on the effects the space environment might have on reproductive systems. That's partly because space research has long been dominated by government agencies.</p><p>"In general, NASA stays away from sex and reproduction questions," Lehnhardt said. "It's not truly relevant to the work that we're doing at NASA right now on a day-to-day basis."</p><p>Even when it has been relevant, reproductive health hasn't been one of NASA's strong suits. Engineers there famously asked <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sally-ride-first-american-woman-in-space-life-legacy-2019-6">astronaut Sally Ride</a> if 100 tampons would be enough for a one-week spaceflight.</p><p>Most of the space reproduction studies that do exist are focused on rodents. Their findings may not be applicable to humans at all, but they offer hints that reproductive functions could be affected by space radiation and microgravity.</p><div type="image" title="Colonel Walter Villadei aboard Galactic 01" height="2160" width="2880" msid="102587807" hostid="261"></div><p>In one <a href="https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/7/9/1437/5819033?login=false#267959580">study</a>, researchers put mouse embryos in an incubator on board a satellite. The embryos developed in space but sustained "severe" DNA damage and had developmental defects.</p><p>In other <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=c36bbbfc6b6ba65038f24dad2830be619dba18ce4f0f5f96ab428388944151d6&amp;postID=646d4da3dff48323162199e6&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41574-019-0267-6">research</a>, exposure to microgravity decreased testosterone levels and sperm production in male rats. Some female rats have mated during spaceflight but then shown signs of early pregnancy loss.</p><p>Some forms of radiation on Earth are known to have negative effects on human pregnancy. But "the galactic cosmic radiation that we experience in space doesn't have a good comparison on the ground," Lehnhardt said.</p><p>It may even be risky to conceive within a few months of returning from spaceflight, the green paper authors argue. Again, research is lacking. The uncertainty is enough for some astronauts to freeze their eggs before they launch into orbit, according to Lehnhardt.</p><h2>Have you talked to your spaceflight customers about sex?</h2><div type="image" title="elon musk raises one eyebrow wearing a suit in as room full of seated men" height="2043" width="2724" msid="102587808" hostid="261"></div><p>If someone does get pregnant up there, that person or their fetus could face complications. Failure to address this possibility puts space-tourism companies at risk of reputational damage or litigation, the green paper argues.</p><p>"We're definitely not trying to say you should ban sex in space," David Cullen, the lead author of the paper and a professor of space biotechnology at Cranfield University, told Insider.</p><p>Instead, he continued, companies should "put in place procedures and mitigations to minimize the chance of any sexual interactions leading to human conception."</p><p>Cullen and his co-authors argue that space-tourism leaders should talk about the risks of acting on orbital arousal. Companies could require that their customers undergo medical and reproductive counseling, or sign waivers about sex and reproduction before flying.</p><h2>To build cities on other planets, we have to learn how to make babies out there</h2><p>Those are just the first steps. If humans are to settle on other planets to become a "multiplanetary species" — a goal that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> has often touted over the years — someone will need to figure out the feasibility and risks of space sex, pregnancy, and birth.</p><div type="image" title="elon musk holds his hands up palms out smiling wearing a suit in front of a wall with the logo viva technology" height="1500" width="1999" msid="102587809" hostid="261"></div><p>That's why Cullen and other authors of the paper are working on an initiative called SpaceBorn United, to research in vitro fertilization (IVF) in space. The company plans to try space IVF first using mouse embryos, in 2024, but eventually aims to test on human embyros.</p><p>"Those are the stepping stones of research that would be needed to see how viable pregnancy could be in the space environment," Lehnhardt said.</p><p>But, he was sure to note, "NASA has absolutely nothing to do with that."</p><p><em>This post has been updated. It was originally published on August 9, 2023.</em></p>

Space tourists will probably have sex up there, but they shouldn't get pregnant, researchers warn

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Over two decades, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/27-best-space-station-photos-show-earth-hidden-beauty-2019-11#the-iss-has-been-orbiting-earth-for-nearly-22-years-its-first-module-launched-into-orbit-on-november-20-1998-1">International Space Station</a> has been humanity's home in space.</li><li>The orbiting laboratory was launched in 1998 and has exceeded its 15-year expected lifespan.</li></ul><p>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/27-best-space-station-photos-show-earth-hidden-beauty-2019-11#the-iss-has-been-orbiting-earth-for-nearly-22-years-its-first-module-launched-into-orbit-on-november-20-1998-1">International Space Station</a> has been humanity's only inhabited outpost in space for decades.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-space-station-is-about-celebrate-20-years-human-presence-2020-10">NASA aims</a> to keep the space station going until 2030 and beyond, even opening it up to commercial spaceflight.</p><p>Russia's space agency head <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-pull-iss-2024-build-own-space-station-roscosmos-putin-2022-7">announced</a> on Tuesday that it would pull out of the aging station after 2024. But officials have since told NASA that they would like to keep cooperation going at least until they build their own space station, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-nasa-sticking-with-space-station-until-least-2028-2022-07-27/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">per Reuters</a>. This could mean the ISS would remain a beacon of international collaboration for at least six more years, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-nasa-sticking-with-space-station-until-least-2028-2022-07-27/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters reported</a>.</p><p>Here are eight unforgettable moments from the ISS's 24 years in space:</p><h2><strong>The landmark 'Twins Study,' which showed that living in space can change human DNA</strong></h2><h2><div type="image" title="A picture shows identical twin astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly." height="1500" width="2000" msid="93148155" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>Much of the research at the ISS is preparation to understand the effect of space exploration on humans, ahead of putting boots on the moon and Mars. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-twin-experiment-mars-space-travel-science-2019-4">NASA's groundbreaking "Twins Study" compared</a> the health and biology of astronaut Mark Kelly to his Earth-bound identical twin, Scott Kelly.</p><p>The study, published in 2019, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-twin-experiment-mars-space-travel-science-2019-4">found that Kelly's DNA changed in space.</a> Upon Scott's return to Earth after 340 days aboard the ISS, researchers found that his telomeres — the protective caps at the end of DNA strands — were unexpectedly longer than Mark's telomeres.</p><p>Scientists are also conducting experiments aboard the ISS to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/iss-20-years-20-breakthroughs#Methods%20to%20combat%20muscle%20atrophy%20and%20bone%20loss">combat bone and muscle loss</a>. According to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/b4h-3rd/hh-preventing-bone-loss-in-space">NASA</a>, astronauts lose between 1 and 2% of their bone density for every month spent in space.</p><h2>The first observation of an unusual 'cool-flame' </h2><h2><div type="image" title="An experiment abord the ISS shows the appearance of a 'steadily-burning cool flame'." height="480" width="639" msid="93148156" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>During an <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/cool_flame.html">unrelated experiment</a>, conducted in 2012, scientists aboard the ISS were able to observe large fuel droplets of heptane extinguishing twice. While the initial burn was at the traditional higher temperature, the second time it went out, the scientists observed low-temperature, soot-free flames in steadily burning fuels for the first time.</p><p>This so-called "cool flame" flickers at about 600 degrees Celsius (about 1,120 degrees Fahrenheit), according to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/cool_flame.html">NASA.</a> That's about half the temperature of a candle flame, which burns at about 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,500 degrees Fahrenheit).</p><p>The flame burns for much longer in a low-gravity environment, such as aboard the ISS, which allowed the scientists to see the flame in heptane fuel burn for the first time, according to NASA. </p><p>The discovery could help scientists use fuel more efficiently in the future, and improve fire safety on the ISS.</p><h2>Astronauts send the first tweets from the ISS</h2><p>In 2010, astronaut Timothy "TJ" Creamer sent the first live tweet from the International Space Station, after the space station updated to a better internet connection, which allowed astronauts access to social media. </p><p>This, however, was not the first tweet sent from an astronaut aboard the ISS.</p><p>Access to the internet on the space station was limited until 2010, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/massimino_tweet.html">so astronaut Mike Massimino had a tweet sent by NASA on his behalf in 2009</a>. Massimino transmitted messages to NASA's Mission Control Center on Earth and NASA tweeted them out:</p><p>"From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, &amp; enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun," Massimo tweeted, with help from NASA.</p><h2>The ISS became one of the first space tourism destinations</h2><h2><div type="image" title="Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa floats inside the International Space Station." height="632" width="843" msid="93148157" hostid="261"></div></h2><p>The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, a US millionaire who boarded the ISS on April 30, 2001, and stayed aboard for eight days.</p><p>In total, 14 people have gone to the space station as commercial spaceflight participants, the official term for space tourists, including Cirque du Soleil founder <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2011/06/09/why-cirque-du-soleil-billionaire-guy-laliberte-traveled-to-space/?sh=6d73f527cb2c">Guy Laliberté</a>, Russian film director <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-80m-iss-trip-leaders-space-yusaku-maezawa-spacex-2021-12">Klim Shipenko, actor Yulia Peresild</a>, billionaire<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-80m-iss-trip-leaders-space-yusaku-maezawa-spacex-2021-12"> Yusaku Maezawa</a>, and production assistant, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-80m-iss-trip-leaders-space-yusaku-maezawa-spacex-2021-12">Yozo Hirano</a>.</p><p>NASA also opened ISS commercial space opportunities in recent years. In April 2022, Axiom Space, a commercial aerospace company, launched the first private mission to the ISS. "We are opening a new era in human spaceflight," Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut, who is also an Axiom executive and mission commander, <a href="https://twitter.com/CommanderMLA/status/1509941831043276811" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said on Twitter in April</a>. "We are taking the first step in a next generation platform initiative that's going to bring working, living, and research in space to a much broader and more international audience."</p><h2>Astronauts grew plants on the ISS and made space tacos</h2><p>Astronauts have successfully grown fresh food aboard the space station, in order to help NASA study plant growth in low gravity, give them fresh grub, and gain insights into how to provide future spacefarers with a sustainable, long-lasting food source. The agency says the ISS astronauts have successfully harvested <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/growing-plants-in-space">three types of lettuce</a>, <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/astronauts-harvest-radish-crop-on-international-space-station">radishes</a>, and <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/veggie.html">peas</a>. In 2021, scientists aboard the ISS cultivated the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-grew-chili-peppers-in-space-astronaut-used-them-tacos-2021-11">chili peppers grown in space</a>, using them, along with fajita beef and vegetables, to make the first space tacos. </p><p>Astronauts are not just growing edible plants. In 2016, astronaut Scott Kelly shared photos of his <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/first-flower-grown-in-space-stations-veggie-facility">space-grown zinnia flower</a>, making it the first flower to bloom in space. </p><h2>A Russian film crew filmed the first fiction movie fully shot in space</h2><p>A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-80m-iss-trip-leaders-space-yusaku-maezawa-spacex-2021-12">Russian film crew</a> went to the ISS in October 2021 to film a full, feature-length film aboard the space station. The film follows a Russian doctor sent to the station to treat a critically ill cosmonaut.</p><p>"I'm feeling a bit sad today," actress Yulia Peresild said on Russian state TV, after landing on Earth after 12 days of filming, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/historic-first-russian-film-crew-lands-shoot-iss-rcna3148">CBS News</a>. "It seemed that 12 days would be a lot, but I did not want to leave when everything was over."<br /><br /></p><div type="image" title="yulia peresild adjusts spacesuit neck line headset" height="2000" width="2666" msid="93148159" hostid="261"></div><p>Still, there is controversy about whether this is the first fiction production filmed in space. An eight-minute movie shot by space tourist Richard Garriot, called "<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6697288/">Apogee of Fear,</a>" took place aboard the ISS in 2008 and starred astronauts on the ISS. </p><h2>An ongoing example of international cooperation in a divided world</h2><div type="image" title="View of an aurora taken from the International Space Station as it crossed over the southern Indian Ocean on September 17, 2011." height="787" width="1188" msid="93148160" hostid="261"></div><p>The ISS has been a shining example of international collaboration since it launched in 1998. The station involves space agencies from the United States, Europe, Canada, and Japan, with a rotating crew of astronauts.</p><p>As of May 2022, hundreds of individuals from 20 countries have visited the ISS, according to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/visitors-to-the-station-by-country/">NASA</a>. </p><p>In July 2022, amid high tension between Russia and the US over the war in Ukraine, Russia's space agency announced its plans to pull out of the ISS after 2024, ending a decades-long partnership with NASA at the orbiting outpost. In a July 26 statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the agency has not been notified by Roscosmos of any plans to end ISS cooperation.</p><p>"NASA is committed to the safe operation of the International Space Station through 2030, and is coordinating with our partners," Nelson said in the statement, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/26/science/russia-space-station.html">The New York Times.</a> "NASA has not been made aware of decisions from any of the partners."</p><h2>Dazzling views of Earth from space — including auroras and volcanic eruptions </h2><div type="image" title="The city lights of Italy, including the French island of Corse and Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily, are pictured from the International Space Station." height="3712" width="5568" msid="93148162" hostid="261"></div><p>Astronauts aboard the ISS — like the station itself — are traveling at 17,500 mph, 250 miles above the planet, and orbiting it every 90 minutes. With this vantage point, they regularly share beautiful images looking down at Earth, snapping shots of phenomena like aurora, harsh storms, <a href="https://www.cnet.com/science/iss-astronauts-snap-staggering-volcano-eruption/">volcanic eruptions,</a> and light pollution. In a 1987 book, author Frank White coined the term "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/overview-effect-nasa-apollo8-perspective-awareness-space-2015-8">the overview effect</a>," referring to the high astronauts report experiencing after seeing Earth from space.</p>

8 unforgettable moments during the International Space Station's decades in orbit, from DNA research to making space tacos

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Space tourists have been flying to orbit since a millionaire made the first such flight in 2001.</li><li>Now the startup <keyword id="6613621" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="axiom-space">Axiom Space</keyword> has chartered the first all-private orbital mission, called Ax-1, which may launch as early as October.</li><li>Flight commander Michael López-Alegría, a former <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword> astronaut, will be joined by three private passengers, likely including <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tom-cruise-travel-elon-musks-spacex-rocket-film-space-movie-2020-5">Tom Cruise</a> and the film director Doug Liman.</li><li>"It's important to me for our crew to be respected," López-Alegría told Insider. "I don't want to give anybody any excuses to not like us."</li></ul><p>This year, a private company may charter a private spaceship, fill it up with private passengers, and fly it to orbit in the hands of a private astronaut.</p><p>The expedition is poised to be the first of its kind, and the gravity of that responsibility is not lost upon its commander, Michael López-Alegría, a retired NASA astronaut turned vice president of business development for Axiom Space, which is bankrolling the historic flight.</p><p>"I really want this crew - who's setting the bar for commercial human spaceflight forever, if you really think about it - to be as good as we possibly can," López-Alegría recently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-lopez-alegria-private-astronaut-pilot-axiom-spacex-crew-dragon-2020-12">told Insider in a wide-ranging interview</a>.</p><p>Called Ax-1, the mission could launch as soon as October in a <keyword id="3150656" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="crew-dragon">Crew Dragon</keyword> spaceship atop a Falcon 9 rocket, both built by <keyword id="6360701" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex">SpaceX</keyword>, the Elon Musk-founded aerospace company.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-fundraising-double-valuation-january-2021-starship-rockets-starlink-satellites-2020-12">SpaceX is looking to raise another big round of funding and wants to double its valuation to up to $92 billion</a></em></p><p>López-Alegría will serve as mission commander, and joining him will be the businessman and former Israeli fighter pilot <a href="https://www.empea.org/profiles/eytan-stibbe/">Eytan Stibbe</a>. Though it has not been officially announced, all evidence suggests the other two passengers <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-pictures-negotiating-tom-cruise-new-space-movie-report-2020-7">will be the actor Tom Cruise</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/shuttlealmanac/status/1307148793633075200" target="_blank" rel="noopener">film director Doug Liman</a>. The crew will ride to the <keyword id="6382020" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="international-space-station">International Space Station</keyword>, stay for about a week (where Cruise and Liman plan to shoot a movie), and return to Earth.</p><p>"I've only ever met one of them in person, just due to the COVID circumstances," López-Alegría said. "But I feel like I've gotten to know them pretty well and ironically, even though they're private <keyword id="73998" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="astronauts">astronauts</keyword>, these three particular individuals feel like people who might have been selected as astronauts before - meaning I feel like they all have the right stuff."</p><p>But López-Alegría made it clear he did not plan to go easy on them.</p><h2>'I have to play both good cop and bad cop with them'</h2><div type="image" title="spacex nasa crew dragon spaceship launchpad arm falcon9 rocket crew1 mission launch florida spacex 2020 11 15 50607892646_8ab7ffcb0c_o edit2" height="1245" width="1660" msid="80176252" hostid="261"></div><p>In 2001, the millionaire entrepreneur and engineer Dennis Tito became the first orbital space tourist to pay his own way, flying aboard Russia's Soyuz spaceship to the space station. The pushback from and objections by NASA leadership and astronauts were numerous and vigorous.</p><p>"The argument NASA used was that I wasn't qualified," Tito <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2017/03/27/wilshire-associates-founder-dennis-tito-reflects-on-his-rare-spaceflight/?sh=a9524cc64f73" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Forbes in 2017</a>. But he noted Russia had trained cosmonauts for four decades.</p><p>"It was an insult to suggest that they would slip in somebody who was untrained," he said. "For me, writing the check was a small part of it. For eight months I trained in the cosmonaut center outside of Moscow on a Soviet-style military base. I lived in a two-room flat, made my own bed and cooked my meals."</p><p>Tito opened the door for many others like him, ultimately helping change minds within NASA - including that of López-Alegría.</p><p>"I wasn't very thrilled I was going to fly with a private astronaut back in 2006, and I actually flew home with another private astronaut. I wasn't too excited about it," he said. "But my experience with the first one - Anousheh Ansari - really changed my outlook. In fact, that's really why I got into commercial space, because of that experience."</p><p>After some time at Axiom, which wants to charter a few private missions to the space station per year, López-Alegría raised his hand to command the first. With four spaceflights under his belt, and experience with private passengers, he emerged as the natural choice when the question arose among Axiom's leadership.</p><p>"My job as commander is to try to identify everybody's strengths and weaknesses, including my own, and build the strongest team possible by using those that knowledge intelligently. I have very high confidence that this crew will not just succeed but exceed NASA's expectations," he said of Ax-1.</p><div type="image" title="eytan stibbe axiom space private astronaut ccbysa3" height="1745" width="2326" msid="80176254" hostid="261"></div>López-Alegría says Axiom will begin training the crew about four months ahead of launch, though that will likely extend given frequent slips in rocket-launch scheduling. He intends to make good use of that time.<p>"It's an interesting needle that I have to thread. On the one hand, I am a firm believer that human spaceflight is possible for a vast majority of the population. You don't have to be Superman, you don't have to be Einstein, you don't have to be da Vinci. You just have to be open-minded and willing to learn," López-Alegría said.</p><p>On the other hand, López-Alegría added, they need to be professional, prepared, and punctual - and he's prepared to toggle between drill sergeant and den mother to encourage them in whatever way is needed.</p><p>"I have to play both good cop and bad cop with them," he said. "I think the biggest message is we're a family as a crew. We really have to work together as a team, we've got to learn how to communicate, and we've got to stick up for each other. I think we're on the road to success already."</p><h2>The earnest beginning of a commercial era in human spaceflight</h2><div type="image" title="axiom station starry night" height="2575" width="3433" msid="80176255" hostid="261"></div><p>López-Alegría said he was going to be extra vigilant with his crew not only because of the stakes for his company but also because of the whole enterprise of commercial spaceflight.</p><p>In fact, despite NASA's historic objections to flying space tourists, the agency has recently warmed up to the idea. In 2019, it announced private citizens could stay on US modules at a cost of about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-international-space-station-commercialization-tourists-2019-6">$35,000 per night</a>. A year later, NASA began funding efforts to help build private replacements for the space station, which will be deorbited around 2030.</p><p>Axiom, for its part, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/axiom-private-commercial-space-station-plan-nasa-iss-budget-2021-1">wants to build a multimodule facility in orbit called Axiom Station</a>, or AxStation, before the station is destroyed.</p><p>"People at NASA started realizing that the ISS was a finite resource, and that in order to have a successor, we needed to start sowing the seeds of an economy in low-Earth orbit. So they began to open their arms more and more to commercial ideas," he said.</p><p>Still, López-Alegría is aware no matter how hard he and his crew works, it could be a slog to change minds within NASA, its astronaut corps, and other space agencies around the globe.</p><p>"It's important to me for our crew to be respected. But I realize that's an uphill climb at first; we're starting off at a deficit. That is part of the reason I don't want to give anybody any excuses to not like us," he said. "If they don't like us, it's not because we're not performant, or we're not ready, or we're not capable, or not good operators in the vehicle - it's for some other reason that I think can be overcome with socialization, and explanation, and just being good ambassadors."</p>

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