NASA looks to commercial companies for International Space Station astronaut missions

WASHINGTON - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced it is looking for private astronauts to further its goal of fostering commercial manned space missions. In that aim, NASA plans to enable missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for commercial enterprises.

NASA has outlined a broad strategy to facilitate the commercialization of LEO by U.S. companies (see NID 8600.121: “Use of International Space Station for Commercial and Marketing Activities”). These private missions must use U.S. transportation vehicles that meet NASA’s ISS visiting vehicle requirements, policies, and procedures.

NASA is soliciting proposals for two independent flight opportunities with launch dates between November 2022 through the end of December 2023 for Phase II of Focus Area 4A. The maximum number of private astronauts per mission shall not exceed four, and the maximum planned docked duration shall not exceed 14 days.

Proposals should be structured as detailed and should be limited to no more than 30 pages, not including any attachments. Only attachments that are specifically requested should be included, and page limits for those attachments are provided in section vii. Any pages submitted beyond the specified page count will be returned to the provider and will not be evaluated. For specific instructions on proposal formatting not covered in these instructions refer to section 2.6. Standard Proposal Style Formats of the NASA Guidebook for Proposers. Proposals and attachments must be submitted in .pdf format.

Please see ISS NRA via NSPIRES at at the following link. For more information, please contact Kelly L. Rubio at [email protected].