Sarah Brightman May Not Be Flying to ISS

Maybe Not
Credit : Space Adventures

Source: RIA Novosti

Vladimir Popovkin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Saturday that  British soprano Sarah Brightman may be bumped from a flight slot to ISS in 2015.  According the report,  NASA and Roscosmos may jointly decide to extend the duration of what would have been her flight from eight days to a month, effectively erasing her opportunity.

Given that the purported cost of the trip, at more than $51 million, would be close to  double the rate which Bigelow Aerospace recently announced for its Alpha station if SpaceX is the provider ($25.25 mln), having her Soyuz seat double-booked might be something of a  relief, provided of course that Bigelow follows through on its plans for the station and Brightman is willing to wait at least a few more years. Even though NASA has given Bigelow Aerospace a big boost in the form of an agreement to launch its BEAM module to ISS in 2015, the combination of sequestration and underfunding of the Commercial Crew program are also delaying the advent of transportation services.

As for the International Space Station program, which never quite seems to break into the general public consciousness as the truly remarkable project it is, it seems reasonable to wonder whether or not the station partners ought not be finding ways to make missions such as Brightman’s  happen, rather than arranging schedules so they do not.