Kommersant: Russia and U.S. Share Space on Soyuz

In message . com
"hop" wrote:

Rusty wrote:
Will the Russians offer frequent flyer miles and bags of peanuts?

I suspect those are extra, but OTOH, NASA appears to be paying 1.8
million/flight over the quoted tourist rate.

For one you may well be losing on the exchange rate, and secondly the
tourist flights so far all involve the third seat. The crew exchanges
will occupy the second seat which means they have to be fully trained as
a Soyuz Flight Engineer which is going to cost more.

Anthony

(Henry Spencer) wrote in :

In article . com,
hop wrote:
I suspect those are extra, but OTOH, NASA appears to be paying 1.8
million/flight over the quoted tourist rate. Maybe they upgraded to
business class ? ;-)

The quoted tourist rate is a rough approximation, not an advertised list
price. There is no advertised list price; each trip gets negotiated
separately. How much you pay depends on obvious things like exactly what
you want to do, more subtle things like whether you speak Russian (and if
so, how well), and probably on how good a negotiator you've got.

The extra 1.8 million is probably the Russians' price for doing the NASA
paperwork. :-)

The former is more likely; for years Russia has quoted a price of $65
million for an entire Soyuz flight, and $21.8 million times three is a
roundoff error away from $65 million.

--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

In article ,
Alain Fournier wrote:
The extra 1.8 million is probably the Russians' price for doing the NASA
paperwork. :-)

Only $1.8 million for the NASA paperwork? Do you think they can do it for
so little because of the low wages that are paid in Russia or is it because
they found a way to automate the process? ;-)

A couple of my friends have already commented, in private mail, along the
lines of: "jeez, the Russians sure got ripped off on that one!". :-)

"No problem, comrade -- we outsourced it! Can hire starving refugees from
New Orleans very cheaply these days."
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

Thomas Lee Elifritz ) wrote:
: Eric Chomko wrote:

: Thomas Lee Elifritz ) wrote:
: : Jim Oberg wrote:
:
: : http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=639930
: :
: : Kommersant: Russia and U.S. Share Space on Soyuz
: : by Ivan Safronov
: : // Space cooperation
: :
: : At the end of last week, NASA revealed the details of a deal reached at the
: : end of last year on transporting American astronauts to the International
: : Space Station. Under the deal, NASA will pay the Russian space agency
: : Roskosmos $21.8 million for every American transported on Russian Soyuz TMA
: : craft round trip. Russia fulfilled its obligations to carry American
: : astronauts for free last year.
: :
: :
:
: : And we all have John Denver to thank for our good fortune.
:
: For crashing his ultralight into Monterey Bay intead of the houses of
: Pacific Grove?!?
:
: No, we have John Denver to thank for *inventing* space tourism and for
: putting the concept of *space tourism* into the common vernacular.
: Without his forward thinking, there probably wouldn't even be any space
: tourism. He was years ahead of everybody. Of course, the Russians get
: all the credit. They had the foresight to offer him a seat for just 10
: million.

: Either you are very young, very dumb, or have a very short memory. Or
: perhaps you are just an armchair space enthusiast.

Not knowing that John Denver considered going into space, though he never
went, doesn't make me young, dumb or memoryless. Did YOU know where, how
and under what circumstances he died? The hint is in MY post!

Eric

: http://cosmic.lifeform.org

Henry Spencer ) wrote:
: In article . com,
: hop wrote:
: I suspect those are extra, but OTOH, NASA appears to be paying 1.8
: million/flight over the quoted tourist rate. Maybe they upgraded to
: business class ? ;-)

: The quoted tourist rate is a rough approximation, not an advertised list
: price. There is no advertised list price; each trip gets negotiated
: separately. How much you pay depends on obvious things like exactly what
: you want to do, more subtle things like whether you speak Russian (and if
: so, how well), and probably on how good a negotiator you've got.

: The extra 1.8 million is probably the Russians' price for doing the NASA
: paperwork. :-)

In pencil of course!

: --
: spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
: mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |

Eric Chomko wrote:
Thomas Lee Elifritz ) wrote:
: Eric Chomko wrote:

: Thomas Lee Elifritz ) wrote:
: : Jim Oberg wrote:
:
: : http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=639930
: :
: : Kommersant: Russia and U.S. Share Space on Soyuz
: : by Ivan Safronov
: : // Space cooperation
: :
: : At the end of last week, NASA revealed the details of a deal reached at the
: : end of last year on transporting American astronauts to the International
: : Space Station. Under the deal, NASA will pay the Russian space agency
: : Roskosmos $21.8 million for every American transported on Russian Soyuz TMA
: : craft round trip. Russia fulfilled its obligations to carry American
: : astronauts for free last year.
: :
: :
:
: : And we all have John Denver to thank for our good fortune.
:
: For crashing his ultralight into Monterey Bay intead of the houses of
: Pacific Grove?!?
:
: No, we have John Denver to thank for *inventing* space tourism and for
: putting the concept of *space tourism* into the common vernacular.
: Without his forward thinking, there probably wouldn't even be any space
: tourism. He was years ahead of everybody. Of course, the Russians get
: all the credit. They had the foresight to offer him a seat for just 10
: million.

: Either you are very young, very dumb, or have a very short memory. Or
: perhaps you are just an armchair space enthusiast.

Not knowing that John Denver considered going into space, though he never
went, doesn't make me young, dumb or memoryless.

No, it does make you an armchair space enthusiast, though.

Back in those days, with respect to space tourism,
John Denver was *THE MAN*. He and the Russians
were the only game in town. All we ever flew
were a couple of corrupt politicians.
They didn't even have to pay.

Did YOU know where, how
and under what circumstances he died?

Don't care.

I reiterate : John Denver *invented* space tourism.

http://cosmic.lifeform.org