NASA Requires 'Former Flown' Astronaut to Lead All Private Missions to the ISS

pcmag.com:

NASA this week updated its policies for private astronaut missions (PAMs) to the International Space Station, following "lessons learned" from Axiom's Ax-1 mission in April.

The new rules aim to increase passenger safety and reduce strain on existing operations by clarifying the private astronaut code of conduct, as well as tweaking requirements for sleep and hygiene accommodation, medical support, and microgravity adaptation.

One condition still being ironed out stipulates that all future PAMs "include a former flown NASA (U.S.) government astronaut as the mission commander," who can provide "experienced guidance for the private astronauts during pre-flight preparation through mission execution," according to an agency notice(Opens in a new window) posted on Monday.

"Based on their past on-orbit and NASA experience," the notice explains, "the PAM commander provides a link between the resident ISS expedition crew and private astronauts and reduces risk to ISS operations and PAM/ISS safety."

Following a two-day delay due to a holdup with NASA's Artemis 1 Moon rocket, the first all-private mission to the space station successfully launched on April 8, carrying four civilians on a 10-day mission including eight days onboard the ISS conducting scientific research, outreach, and commercial activities. Commander Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut, joined pilot Larry Connor and mission specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy for the trip of a lifetime.

"It became pretty clear, first of all, that customers really didn't want to fly with nobody who has done it before," López-Alegría said recently at the ISS Research and Development Conference, as reported by SpaceNews(Opens in a new window). "Secondly, NASA was a lot