NASA is to resume a Spaceflight Participant Programme, allowing the public to make paid flights aboard the Space Shuttle. The proposal is part of an Enhanced Strategy for the Development of Space Commerce which includes the possibility of the US portion of the International Space Station being managed by a private company.
Space agency administrator Dan Goldin says the draft strategy being developed will be "essential to enabling space commerce in low Earth orbit". More sections of the Space Shuttle programme may also be turned over to private contractors.
"The emergence of viable commercial business operations in space will allow NASA to focus on increased resources on the higher risk activities that the private sector is unable to pursue," says Goldin.
The strategy will cover five sectors: technology, research, infrastructure and facilities, media and communications, including entertainment, and space travel and exploration.
The policy document says NASA is ready to share its technical know-how and help the private sector to build and operate commercial space transportation systems to accommodate human space travel.
The Spaceflight Participant Programme was dropped in 1986 after the Challenger accident in which teacher Christa McAuliffe was killed.
Source: Flight International
