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Commercialization

Russia Sells Yet Another Soyuz Seat to Uber-rich Singer/Space Tourist

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
October 4, 2012
Filed under , ,

Singer Sarah Brightman Outbids NASA for Space Tourist’s Seat, ABC
“ABC News has learned that singer Sarah Brightman, of “Phantom of the Opera” fame, will be the next tourist in space, sometime in 2014 or 2015. To get her seat she had to pay the Russian space agency more than the $51 million NASA budgets on average to send its astronauts to the station. To maintain its presence in orbit when Soyuz seats are limited, NASA had to agree to commit at least one of its astronauts to spend a year in space, instead of the six months they currently stay. Brightman’s trip will be announced in Moscow on Oct. 10.”
Keith’s note: In case you were wondering, for $51 million, according to a per-person cost of $2.58 from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, you could vaccinate 19,767,442 people (yea 19+ MILLION) in developing nations with “5-in-1 vaccine” or “pentavalent” vaccine which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and hepatitis B. You could also buy 275,675 OLPC XO-1.75 laptops for students in a developing country at $185 each.
Of course, its her money so she can spend it as she wishes. But I wonder what Sarah Brightman is going to do in conjunction with her flight that compares with the impact that this $51 million could have elsewhere. I certainly hope that she talks with Anousheh Ansari, Richard Garriott, Guy Laliberte, and Mark Shuttleworth.
Here’s a thought. She’s a stunning vocalist. Take a cue from First Orbit and Fragile Oasis – and the record sent on the Voyager probes. As she flies over the hundreds of ethnic and national borders on our planet, sing a song – in every language she flies over – in real time. Make a recording – donate all proceeds to a non-profit organization. That would be cool.
I’d ask her this question, except, based on past experience, Space Adventures would simply never allow me access to her in a media opportunity.
No astronauts were ‘bumped’ in the making of this space tourist, Fox
“An ABC News report by producer Gina Sunseri claimed opera singer Sarah Brightman outbid NASA for a seat aboard a Soyuz rocket — and an astronaut was consequently bumped from the rocket ride. Nonsense, the space agency said. “Crews for International Space Station expeditions have been assigned through 2013,” NASA spokesman Joshua Buck told FoxNews.com. “None of those astronauts has been ‘booted’ from his or her respective mission.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

43 responses to “Russia Sells Yet Another Soyuz Seat to Uber-rich Singer/Space Tourist”

  1. Marc Boucher says:
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    This was common knowledge within the media as Space Adventures basically told everyone yesterday in a release. But if ABC wants to say “it has learned”, well ok.

  2. Andrew_M_Swallow says:
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    I know the girl who ‘Lost her Heart  to a Starship Trooper’ has been successful but I an still surprised she can afford $51 million.

  3. Andrew Gasser says:
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    Keith,

    Isn’t up to the individual to decide how they spend the money they earn?  Who should decide who gets to spend what on what?  I know… wordy.

    All I am saying is that there are a lot of good causes to do amazing things.  However, in our representative republic, and in a free society in general, people can spend their bucks as they please.

    I wonder how much it will cost for a flight of five to a Bigelow hab in LEO?

    Respectfully,
    Andrew

    • kcowing says:
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      Cost of a flight to a Bigelow hab – and/or a flight on SpaceX Dragon?  Cheaper.

    • npng says:
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      Andrew you must have time warped in from the last century.  You need to get up to date.  The republic vanished long ago.  We have a new world order today, we have a new socialism.  The wealth of billionaires is viewed as a hideous self-enrichment and the populous has declared that all such wealth should be directed by and distributed to the have-nots.   The fruits of labor from those that have toiled in the fields shall be given to those idle and wanting.  You know, wealth-transfer.  Where have you been? 

      I like Keith’s vaccine alternative.  Since Sarah circles the world on singing tours, she’d probably be smart to pump th $51M into vaccines so when she’s singing to 80,000 people week after week in football stadiums and opera halls everyone there will be healthy and not cough on her and give her pertussis.

      But who knows, maybe Sarah has something up her sleeve, or space suit, to do in space.  An Astro Aria?  A Zero-G Gig?  A Soyuz Sonata? (absent air).  Since the ISS lacks a full orchestra, maybe a lot of a capella beamed down?  To be the first to do ‘out of this world’ singing would have some real brand value. Maybe the $51M is a business expense and the on orbit time is just Sarah’s first space concert tour.

      I can see Sarah on orbit now singing “It’s Time to Say Goodbye”.  Suddenly, ticketron starts receiving ticket purchases from remote galaxies and 80,000 alien spacecraft enter the solar system to hover in stadium formation, all gazing at Sarah with their eight eyes and listening intently with all four ears. Brightman Intergalactic Groupies.

    • Ralphy999 says:
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      I’m all for sending rich people into space. Maybe I’ll get to see the trickle down theory work.

    • DocM says:
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      I totally agree. Ms. Brightman is involved in philanthropic works through UNESCO, Brightman STEM w/Virgin Galactic etc. and others through the years since she broke into fame. Then there is the benefit to the world through her art, which like it or not is very, very hard work.

      Time to put the lefty income envy to bed and let Ms. Brightman live her dream. She’s earned it.

  4. Patrick Judd says:
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    It’s a good thing our govt can now afford to spend that 51 million in the manner you speak of!

  5. Kevin Parkin says:
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    “you could vaccinate 19,767,442 people (yea 19+ MILLION) in developing nations with “5-in-1 vaccine” or”pentavalent” vaccine which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and hepatitis B. You could also buy 275,675 OLPC XO-1.75 laptopsfor students in a developing country at $185 each.”

    Now try to imagine that you don’t believe SLS or other large parts of NASA’s space program will lead to anything worthwhile.  The same arguments apply, only with 2-3 extra zeroes at the end of each statistic.

  6. mmeijeri says:
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    Wow, I wouldn’t have thought there would be private  citizens willing to pay that much money for a trip to space, this is more than double the previous amounts. This is excellent news for the prospects of commercial manned spaceflight!

  7. Gerald Cecil says:
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    FWIW, Wikipedia reports that her net worth in 2008 was $49M. She could easily have doubled that in the GFC, so why not make the trip before the tourists come? But I do wish that she had chosen instead to become one of Bigelow’s inaugural guests.

    • Jafafa Hots says:
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      Mars rover benefits the advancement science.

      Please tell me what a 51 million dollar vacation flight benefits the advancement of.

      Mainstreaming of conspicuous consumption? Promotion of gluttony?

      When people amass far more of anything other thing than they’ll ever need in a lifetime – newspapers, cats, humel figurines, we call them a hoarder, correctly diagnose them as ill and advise treatment.

      When what they hoard more of than they’ll ever need in several lifetimes is MONEY however, we call them a role model.

      I find this strange.

  8. Iamcodemaster says:
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    First time commenting here, I mostly just lurk and become informed.
    I support the space program and believe it’s money well spent. If we want to get into how many vaccines could be bought for this money then how many could have been bought for the price of the recent Mars rover. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

  9. yg1968 says:
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    The whole point of having commercial crew is to allow a market to grow in which space tourists are able to purchase their seats from providers. If you are against space tourism, you are also against commercial crew.  

    • Steve Whitfield says:
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      yg,

      There is much more to “commercial crew” than tourism.  Industrial (first) and scientific (second) use will account for far more flights and money than tourism ever will, otherwise commercial crew will fail.

      • yg1968 says:
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        You are right. I should have nuanced my post to say that one of the objective of commercial crew is to encourage space tourism. But I was a little surprised by Keith anti-space tourism stance in his blog given that he generally seems to be pro-commercial crew.

  10. Iamcodemaster says:
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    First time commenting here, usually I just lurk and learn.  I support the space program and believe it is money well spent. If we want to get into how many vaccines this ticket will buy then why not talk about how many vaccines could have been bought with the money used on the latest Mars rover. Sorry Keith but your comment just feeds into the thinking that, why spend money on the space program at all when we could spend it solving other problems on Earth.

    • kcowing says:
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      Newsflash: just because the word “space” is used doesn’t automatically mean that I support it or that not blindly supporting everything and anything in space means that I am against space utilization and exploration.

      • Luke_Helenthal says:
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        Keith:

        I agree, I do not support a project if it has to do with space.  As impressive as the Mars Science Laboratory is, if we spent the 2.5 billion dollars spent on that mission on vaccines, 968.9 million people could have benefited.  I believe that our space program should first and foremost perform research and conduct observations that directly benefits all the people of Earth.  One can argue that now it not the time to spend billions on rovers to explore another planet, but the bottom line is we really do not need waste 100 billion dollars to send humans beyond Earth orbit.  Let’s use the money to conduct research on ISS that can directly help solve problems here on Earth. 

      • Steve Whitfield says:
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        Keith,

        Good answer.  I believe we should all think that way — informed decisions on a case by case basis.

        One thing on the vaccine issue, though; you’d need a much bigger follow-up program so that a significant percentage of those 19+ million souls don’t die of malnutrition, or diseases/sicknesses not covered by the vaccine, assuming that the vaccine was given to those people most in need of it.  It’s an on-going problem, getting worse instead of better.  And if current trends continue, North Americans will be on the list of “those people most in need” along with the rest of the world, sooner than we want to believe.

        One poster above distorted the redistribution of wealth concept, but that concept intelligently implemented may be all that saves us from one day become a bad SF movie.  As much as I love space and would love to go, if I had her money I’d spend it on something like the vaccine plan.  I think perhaps Ms Brightman understands this, given some of her other activities.

        Steve

  11. yg1968 says:
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    What is surprising is that her net worth is about $52 Million which is essentially the price of the ticket.

  12. Dewey Vanderhoff says:
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    Final Frontier: The ultimate value to space science  may lay ( pun intended)  into some long overdue research into having sex in microgravity. Hypothetically speaking, you understand. Just musing….

    On a sidenote: Sarah Brightman is the world’s wealthiest classical music performer , and she’s earned it , besides being  married to Andrew Lloyd Webber for a stint. She’s also been very generous to philanthropic causes and is a UNESCO ambassador. She also underwrites a science, technology, and math scholarship program. Her going to ISS has huge humanitarian value…it’s not a lark.

    Remember, we almost sent Lance Bass up there.  Whew!

  13. bobhudson54 says:
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    I don’t have any problem with Ms Brightman’s extravagance. If she can afford the expense, let her go and enjoy the spaceflight experience. I’m all for it.

  14. Skinny_Lu says:
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    Yes, and Dragon should provide a much more comfortable ride than Soyuz.  If she does not blow all her money on one shot, she can go back a second time…  get some frequent flyer miles. 

  15. Michael Spencer says:
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    Been reading these comments here especially in light of Keith’s note about vaccines. I live in Naples, Florida, where you’ll see lots of $250,000+ cars driving around. At the same time, not 30 miles away in the same county, people die from lack of meds or even, sometimes, food.

    I’m not saying that having money is bad. It’s great! I spend a considerable amount of time trying to get more. And God bless those who earn it. 

    What bothers me is pretty simple: there’s just something wrong someplace in the system that allows this to happen. That’s all. Call it redistribution or whatever you want to call it. Something is wrong in the country/ world when there is so much for so few. When a few families can own more than 25% of America’s wealth, something is goofy. It’s not healthy for anyone. 

    It’s the Church of the Free Market setting social policy and we are in a hell of a fix because of it. And why ordinary people are part of this Church is mystifying as well.

    I wish I were smart enough to identify the solution. But I do see the problem.

    And now, Tea Party, over to you… 🙂

    • Steve Whitfield says:
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      msa,
      If you stand back far enough and look at it, unfortunately it’s just evolution.  Those with greater survival ability (in this case money) tend to survive and propagate.  Those with lesser survival assets (the poor) tend to get filtered out and if they propagate, its only more poor.  Despite our best efforts to compensate, evolution has sheer numbers on its side.  Historically, this is the normal human condition, as much as we may want to change it.  This, I think, is why science and technology are so important; they can’t correct this imbalance, but they can continually improve upon it.

  16. ChristopherJ says:
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    Keith, please tell me you wouldn’t go if you had the resources. How much did your trip to Everest cost? Wouldn’t that money have bought a few vaccinations, too?

    • kcowing says:
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      My Everest Trip cost me around $5,000 in country plus airfare. But as much as I’d absolutely love to fly in space – and I have given this a lot of thought – I’d have a moral dilemma about spending all of this money on myself unless I could find a way to leverage the flight for something bigger than me.  That’s just the way I am. Again, its her money – and she earned it – and can do with it as she pleases.  As for “vaccinations” in Nepal, I made a bunch of donations along the way – several hundred bucks worth of unused meds, huge tips to my guides and porters, and money to temples etc. But you do not care about that, do you?

      • Chris B says:
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         So what was your moral dilemma on the everest trip, Kieth? Did you take vaccines for the poor Nepalese children?

        • kcowing says:
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          I suppose spelling my name wrong is important, yes? I did not say that I had a moral dilemma on my trip to Everest. Since you asked, I donated several hundred dollar’s worth of needed medications to a local clinic in Nepal and made cash donations to others. Virtually all of what I paid for my trip outside of airfare went almost – if not directly – to local sherpas and businesses.

  17. Rusty Rives says:
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    So if you had the $51 million, you would spend it on vaccines and not going to the space station? Really- I doubt it. I am envious that she will get to have such a great experience.

    • kcowing says:
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      Actually, as much as I’d absolutely love to do this –  and I have given this a lot of thought – I’d have a moral dilemma about spending all of this money on myself unless I could find a way to leverage the flight for something bigger than me.  That’s just the way I am. Again, its her money – and she earned it – and can do with it as she pleases.  

    • DTARS says:
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      With my 51 million, I’d start a Leo Geo salvage company, and call Spacex.

  18. QBand says:
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    I saw this coming… http://www.youtube.com/watc… Go Sarah!

  19. Paul451 says:
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    Look, I’m as socialist as the next whining liberal, but it’s not as if she’s actually setting fire to $51m worth of bank notes. She’s paying someone else, who are paying someone else…

    And if she really is spending almost her entire net worth on this… she’s clearly deeply committed to this experience. I can hardly snipe at someone who gives almost everything they own for something I’d give almost everything I own to experience.

  20. mattblak says:
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    Sarah has helped launch a significant ‘STEM’ scholarship:
    http://www.sarahbrightman.c

  21. Rocky Persaud says:
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    Didn’t Space Adventures offer a spacewalk from ISS as an add-on that would amount to around $50 million for the package?  Could they have sold their first spacewalk ticket?

  22. Andrew_M_Swallow says:
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    Sarah Brightman is an entertainer so there will be a standard way of the press to contact her.  Possibly by her record company or web site.

  23. Daniel Woodard says:
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    Tourism is vital to establishing viable human spaceflight, as it was to aviation.  I applaud the sale of another ticket to space and decry the fact that it was not on a US vehicle. These aren’t tax dollars, and philanthropy is not an obligation. If the vaccinations are warranted (and I think they are) we should  raise the funds for them through taxation.