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In 2019, as part of a broader effort to bolster the private space industry, NASA declared the International Space Station open for business. The agency published a comprehensive document listing all the ways that private companies could pay to use the ISS for everything from “manufacturing, production and transportation of goods” to “marketing activities.”
- To send 1 kilogram of stuff (about the size of a pineapple) up to the ISS? That will run you a cool $20,000.
- Want to get your space pineapple back again? That’ll cost $40,000.
- If you’re cool with allowing your pineapple to burn up in the atmosphere after its trip to the ISS instead of bringing it home, NASA charges $20,000 per Kg for “Trash Disposal.”
- The rate for an ISS astronaut’s time: $130,000 per hour. That amounts to $2,166 per minute, or $36 for every second.
- If you hired an astronaut to perform a task about the ISS and they paused for a moment to yawn while on the clock (an activity that takes about six seconds), that yawn could cost you $216.
- Hiring an ISS astronaut for a full 9–5 workday would run you a bit over $1 million.
Link: Medium