Houston, we have a podcast.

Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, episode 103,

Space Tourism and Commercialization.

I'm Gary Joining and I'll be your host today.

On this podcast we bring in the experts, NASA scientists, engineers, astronauts all to let you know the coolest information about what's going on right here at NASA.

So on June 7th, 2019, NASA announced a new directive that further opens up the International Space Station for commercial use.

This means a really brand new way that business is done in space, and it widens the possibilities

for commercial companies to explore different markets, to manufacture goods, to test their

own habitable structures, to conduct marketing and sponsorship activities, and to send more people

to space through space tourism and private astronauts.

This announcement was a big deal for us because it's a significant shift from how we normally

do things.

But why do this at all?

Well, NASA is going full speed ahead to make a landing of the first woman and the next man on the moon a possibility.

And developing a robust economy in low Earth orbit, or basically creating a space in space for companies

to succeed, is a good way to make that happen.

Developing this economy with many companies means NASA can focus its resources on moon

exploration.

We'll still need low-Earth orbit, but with this model we can purchase services from companies in Low Earth Orbit at a much lower cost than doing everything ourselves.

Because the ultimate goal would be to be one of many customers in a self-sustaining economy.

The idea here is not to make money or reduce costs just to

enable this to happen. But really this is all just skimming the surface. This

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