Editing Space tourism (section)

==Precursors==
{{see also|Space Race}}
The [[Soviet space program]] was successful in broadening the pool of [[cosmonauts]]. The Soviet [[Interkosmos|Intercosmos]] program included cosmonauts selected from [[Warsaw Pact]] member countries ([[Czechoslovakia]], Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania) and later from allies of the USSR (Cuba, Mongolia, Vietnam) and [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-aligned]] countries (India, Syria, Afghanistan). Most of these cosmonauts received full training for their missions and were treated as equals, but were generally given shorter flights than Soviet cosmonauts. The [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) also took advantage of the program.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bonini |first1=Gherardo |title=Relations between ESA and Russia (ESA.B-04.02.02) |url=https://archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/532918?item=ESA.B.09-04.02 |website=archives.eui.eu |publisher=European Union (Historical Archives) |access-date=May 21, 2022 |archive-date=April 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412095712/https://archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/532918?item=ESA.B.09-04.02 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[Space Shuttle program|US Space Shuttle program]] included [[payload Specialist|payload specialist]] positions which were usually filled by representatives of companies or institutions managing a specific payload on that mission. These payload specialists did not receive the same training as professional [[NASA]] astronauts and were not employed by NASA. In 1983, [[Ulf Merbold]] from the ESA and [[Byron K. Lichtenberg|Byron Lichtenberg]] from [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] (engineer and [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] fighter pilot) were the first payload specialists to fly on the [[Space Shuttle]], on mission [[STS-9]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lichtenberg-bk.html |title=Biographical Data: Byron K. Lichtenberg, SC. D.|website=NASA|access-date=September 10, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070919000449/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lichtenberg-bk.html|archive-date=September 19, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Astronauts/Ulf_Merbold |title=Astronauts: Ulf Merbold |website=European Space Agency |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130430173344/http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Astronauts/Ulf_Merbold |archive-date=April 30, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1984, [[Charles D. Walker]] became the first non-government astronaut to fly, with his employer [[McDonnell Douglas]] paying US$40,000 ({{Inflation|US|40000|1984|fmt=eq}}) for his flight.{{r|unl2011}}{{rp|74–75}} During the 1970s, Shuttle prime contractor [[Rockwell International]] studied a $200–300&nbsp;million removable cabin that could fit into the Shuttle's cargo bay. The cabin could carry up to 74 passengers into orbit for up to three days. Space Habitation Design Associates proposed, in 1983, a cabin for 72 passengers in the bay. Passengers were located in six sections, each with windows and its own loading ramp, and with seats in different configurations for launch and landing. Another proposal was based on the [[Spacelab]] habitation modules, which provided 32 seats in the payload bay in addition to those in the cockpit area. A 1985 presentation to the [[National Space Society]] stated that, although flying tourists in the cabin would cost $1 million to $1.5&nbsp;million per passenger without government subsidy, within 15 years, 30,000 people a year would pay US$25,000 ({{Inflation|US|25000|1985|fmt=eq}}) each to fly in space on new spacecraft. The presentation also forecast flights to [[lunar orbit]] within 30 years and visits to the lunar surface within 50 years.<ref name="l5198504">{{cite conference | url=http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/the_space_tourist.shtml | title=Space Tourism Could Drive Space Development | publisher=American Astronautical Society | access-date=February 17, 2012 | last=Citron |first=Robert | book-title=The Space Tourist | date=April 1985 | conference=Fourth Annual L5 Space Development Conference, National Space Society | location=Washington DC | pages=85–771 to 85–774 | archive-date=February 9, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209032656/http://www.spacefuture.com/archive/the_space_tourist.shtml | url-status=live }}</ref>

As the shuttle program expanded in the early 1980s, NASA began a Space Flight Participant program to allow citizens without scientific or governmental roles to fly. [[Christa McAuliffe]] was chosen as the first [[Teacher in Space]] in July 1985 from 11,400 applicants. 1,700 applied for the Journalist in Space program. An Artist in Space program was considered, and NASA expected that after McAuliffe's flight two to three civilians a year would fly on the shuttle. After McAuliffe was killed in the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|''Challenger'' disaster]] in January 1986, the programs were canceled. McAuliffe's backup, [[Barbara Morgan]], eventually got hired in 1998 as a professional astronaut and flew on [[STS-118]] as a [[mission specialist]].<ref name="unl2011">{{cite book | title=Realizing Tomorrow: The Path to Private Spaceflight | url=https://archive.org/details/realizingtomorro0000dubb | url-access=registration | publisher=University of Nebraska Press |last1=Dubbs |first1=Chris |last2=Paat-Dahlstrom |first2=Emeline |last3=Walker |first3=Charles D. | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-8032-1610-5}}</ref>{{rp|84–85}} A second journalist-in-space program, in which NASA green-lighted [[Miles O'Brien (journalist)|Miles O'Brien]] to fly on the Space Shuttle, was scheduled to be announced in 2003. That program was canceled in the wake of the [[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|''Columbia'' disaster]] on [[STS-107]] and subsequent emphasis on finishing the International Space Station before retiring the Space Shuttle.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

Initially, senior figures at NASA strongly opposed space tourism on principle; from the beginning of the ISS expeditions, NASA stated it was not interested in accommodating paying guests.<ref name="NoTourists">{{cite news |url=http://www.space.com/news/spacestation/mir_tour_iss_001101.html|title=NASA: No Room at the ISS Inn for Mir Cast-offs |author=Bridges, Andrew |work=Space.com |date=November 1, 2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001109081900/http://space.com/news/spacestation/mir_tour_iss_001101.html |archive-date=November 9, 2000}}</ref> The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Committee on Science of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] held in June 2001 revealed the shifting attitude of NASA towards paying space tourists wanting to travel to the ISS in its statement on the hearing's purpose: <blockquote>"Review the issues and opportunities for flying nonprofessional astronauts in space, the appropriate government role for supporting the nascent space tourism industry, use of the Shuttle and Space Station for Tourism, safety and training criteria for space tourists, and the potential commercial market for space tourism."</blockquote> The subcommittee report was interested in evaluating [[Dennis Tito]]'s extensive training and his experience in space as a nonprofessional astronaut.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}

With the realities of the post-[[Perestroika]] economy in Russia, its space industry was especially starved for cash. The [[Tokyo Broadcasting System]] (TBS) offered to pay for one of its reporters to fly on a mission. [[Toyohiro Akiyama]] was flown in 1990 to ''[[Mir]]'' with the eighth crew and returned a week later with the seventh crew. Cost estimates vary from $10&nbsp;million up to $37&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/08/03/people/toyohiro-akiyama-cautionary-tales-from-one-not-afraid-to-risk-all/ |title=Toyohiro Akiyama: Cautionary tales from one not afraid to risk all |newspaper=Japan Times |date=August 3, 2013 |access-date=July 31, 2018 |last1=Otake |first1=Tomoko |archive-date=August 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801034412/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/08/03/people/toyohiro-akiyama-cautionary-tales-from-one-not-afraid-to-risk-all/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/aviation%20timeline/1990.htm |title=World Aviation in 1990 |access-date=August 1, 2018 |archive-date=November 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119140335/http://century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/aviation%20timeline/1990.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Akiyama gave a daily TV broadcast from orbit and also performed scientific experiments for Russian and Japanese companies.

In 1991, British chemist [[Helen Sharman]] was selected from a pool of 13,000 applicants to be the first Briton in space.<ref name="FirstBriton">{{cite news |title=1991: Sharman becomes first Briton in space |date=May 18, 1991 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2380000/2380649.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=January 6, 2007 |archive-date=September 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070905072027/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/18/newsid_2380000/2380649.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The program was known as [[Project Juno]] and was a cooperative arrangement between the [[Soviet Union]] and a group of British companies. The Project Juno consortium failed to raise the funds required, and the program was almost canceled. Reportedly [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] ordered it to proceed under Soviet expense in the interests of international relations, but in the absence of Western underwriting, less expensive experiments were substituted for those in the original plans. Sharman flew aboard [[Soyuz TM-12]] to ''Mir'' and returned aboard [[Soyuz TM-11]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.spacefacts.de/english/flights.htm|title=Manned Spaceflights|website=SPACEFACTS |access-date=October 14, 2019|archive-date=October 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024163708/http://www.spacefacts.de/english/flights.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In April 1999, the Russian space agency announced that 51-year-old British billionaire Peter Llewellyn would be sent to the aging Mir space station in return for a payment of $100 million by Llewellyn.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1999/04/27/British-billionaire-pays-for-Mir-ride/1283925185600/|title=British billionaire pays for Mir ride|date=April 27, 1999|work=UPI |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240305235806/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1999/04/27/British-billionaire-pays-for-Mir-ride/1283925185600/ |archive-date= March 5, 2024 }}</ref> Llewellyn, however, denied agreeing to pay that sum, his refusal to pay which prompted his flight's cancellation a month later.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/353467.stm|title=No Mir flight for British businessman|date=May 27, 1999|work=BBC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231002081856/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/353467.stm |archive-date= October 2, 2023 }}</ref>