Russia raises American astronauts round-trip tickets

Russia will collect $ 51 million for each US astronaut's return trip from the ISS international space station and sell chairs to tourists who want to explore the universe.

Khoang transported to Earth the ship Soyuz landed near Dzhezkazgan on April 8.Photo: Reuters.

Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, said they had reached an agreement with US partners and the fee for each astronaut would be $ 51 million, starting in 2012.

Meanwhile, he did not say how much NASA would have to pay for earth astronauts from 2010 to 2012. However, the fee that Russia collected in 2006 was $ 21.8 million each. people returning from ISS. During that time, tickets for space travelers increased from 20 million to 35 million.

Coming soon, NASA will have to use the Russian Soyuz, since their shuttles will "retire" in 2010 after nearly 30 years of operation. The replacement vessel is expected to be put into operation as early as 2014 and has the ability to bring astronauts to the moon.