Axiom Space, the space company NASA picked to develop a private successor to the International Space Station, is in big trouble.

With this project falling behind, and the reducing likelihood of delays in the Lunar Gateway/Artemis program, I think there's a good chance that NASA and the ESA will not have access to a space station following the ISS's decommission. It's not the only "public-private" partnership for an ISS successor, but I don't think the other candidates are making much progress either.

I also thought that this quote was pretty amusing, and highlights the futility of trying to privately fund commercial station projects:

To bring in some much-needed cash, Axiom Space started selling seats for trips to the ISS on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.

It was also awarded a NASA contract to fund a space suit for the first crewed mission to the lunar surface, Artemis III.

But the suit appears to have been a massive distraction — not to mention a major money pit — from its plans to build a space station. SpaceX trips to the existing orbital outpost were also not a sustainable solution to Axiom Space's woes.

"Turns out that there's not a lot of billionaires that want to set aside their life for 18 months to go train to be an astronaut for the ISS," a former Axiom executive told Forbes.

  • buckykat [none/use name]
    ·
    3 months ago

    My favorite :agony-turbo: one of those is "we're not gonna put this lunar rover that we already built on a rocket that we're gonna launch anyway so :my-hero: can get more money"

    Meanwhile China has I think three lunar rovers currently on the moon roving.

    • UlyssesT
      ·
      2 months ago

      deleted by creator

      • buckykat [none/use name]
        ·
        3 months ago

        They just couldn't think of a single better use for three thousand pounds of payload to solar orbit, right, sure.

        The Falcon 9/heavy is the best amerikkkan launch system since Saturn but that's not a high bar.

        • anonochronomus [comrade/them, she/her]
          ·
          3 months ago

          Considering the Saturn rocket program was run pretty much entirely by paperclipped nazis, I'm gonna have to go ahead and say "nothing new under the sun."

        • UlyssesT
          ·
          2 months ago

          deleted by creator

          • buckykat [none/use name]
            ·
            3 months ago

            Call like any university and say "hey you got 3000 pounds of shit you want on a solar orbit? It might blow up, this is a test flight" And the answer will be "Yes, absolutely!"

            • UlyssesT
              ·
              2 months ago

              deleted by creator

      • CascadeOfLight [he/him]
        ·
        3 months ago

        I would support the use of a nuclear weapon in space if it was used to evaporate that car xi-plz