全民太空旅行时代到来：NASA可能开始卖票

美国国家航空航天局（NASA）可能很快与维珍航空创始人理查德·布兰森、亚马逊掌门人杰夫·贝佐斯和SpaceX总裁埃隆·马斯克同场较量，在商业化太空旅行领域展开竞争。

据《华盛顿邮报》报道，在布兰森、贝佐斯和马斯克等亿万富翁旗下的维珍银河、蓝色起源和SpaceX竞相宣传太空旅行服务之后，NASA正考虑向个人售票，提供乘坐运载火箭从地球往返国际空间站的服务。

这将是美国官方首次开展商业太空航行，但俄罗斯从2001年开始就已将游客送入太空。太空与航天领域资讯网站Space.com曾发文介绍，2001年美国商人丹尼斯·蒂托支付了2000万美元，登上俄罗斯宇宙飞船联盟号前往国际空间站。之后俄罗斯的航天项目一直将民间乘客送上太空，而且据资讯网站Jalopnick报道，俄罗斯已考虑在国际空间站建一家豪华酒店，游客可支付2000万美元在太空度假两周。

NASA的商业太空旅行想法还在酝酿初期，主要希望通过此类行动重回大众视野，缩小政府部门与民间私营部门的差距。《华盛顿邮报》指出，NASA的宇宙飞船可能由SpaceX或者波音公司制造。

NASA的局长吉姆·布里登斯坦在今年8月的一次演讲中表示：“希望有一天，NASA的宇航员能出现在麦片盒的包装上，真正融入美国的文化。”此外，他对推广品牌的建议是“在流行文化中提升航天活动的曝光度”，个人参与太空旅行可能有助于提升NASA在公众心目中的形象。

上周五，NASA的一个下属委员会已表示支持，但还要获得NASA顾问委员会全体通过，最后还要布里登斯坦批准，个人前往太空旅行才可能成为现实，（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审稿：夏林

NASA might soon be joining Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk in the space-for-profit race.

After watching the billionaires’ respective Virgin Galaxy, Blue Origin, and SpaceX race to blast tourists out of the earth’s atmosphere, NASA is considering a proposal to sell private citizens tickets aboard rockets to and from the International Space Station (ISS), the Washington Post reports.

Although this would be a first for the United States, Russia has been sending tourists to space since 2001, when Space.com writes that American businessman Dennis Tito paid $20 million to board the Soyuz to the ISS. The Russian space program has continued to send private citizens to space and, according to Jalopnick, has floated the idea of building a luxury hotel aboard the ISS that travelers could book for a $20 million, two-week vacation.

NASA is still in the early stages of considering commercial space flight, a move that the agency hopes would return it to the public eye and bridge a gap with the private sector. The Post notes that NASA could sell seats on crafts built by SpaceX or Boeing.

“I’d like to see, maybe one day, NASA astronauts on the cover of a cereal box, embedded into the American culture,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in an August presentation. On top of his suggestion to sell branding “to enhance the exposure of space activities in the popular culture,” privatized space travel could be another move to increase NASA’s hold on public consciousness.

Although the proposal was backed by a NASA subcommittee on last Friday, it would have to be approved by the entire advisory council and then Bridenstine before dreams of bumming a ride into space become more of a reality.