Canceled: SpaceX F9 : Space Adventures private Dragon flight

[wheedude]

Is this project still active or given Inspiration 4 success, potential Space Adventures customers now negotiate directly with SpaceX ?

I imagine any contractual agreement between Space Adventures and their customers will still have to be honored, unless both parties mutually agree to dissolve it.  I don't see Space Adventures giving up their piece of the pie. 

With that, I do wonder how keen Spacex is to continue directly booking passengers.  They have deals with Axiom and Space Adventures to use their ship on private missions... was Inspiration4 simply a one off?  We know DearMoon was directly negotiated because of Maezawa's heavy investment in Starship.  Maybe at the end of the day, Spacex really doesn't care and will treat anyone like a customer... I could see services like Axiom and Space Adventures taking a role of a travel agent... simplifying everything for the end customer, creating trip itineraries, creating actual destinations. 

[Jarnis]

I see Space Adventures as a broker. Buyers who can't afford to pay for a whole flight and do not want to do the mess of sub-dealing the other seats to other customers and potentially taking risks on one of the parties reneging before flight. Instead Space Adventures has found four interested parties who can pay for a single seat, they bundle that to a full mission and take a small commission from the transaction.

[Comga]

It's kind of fun to review this thread in light of the Inspiration 4 flight.

Who will pay for such a flight?

These adventurer flights could use used (refurbished) capsules and used booster

Where are the professional astronauts to fly this vehicle coming from?

Participants will see planet Earth the way no one has since the Gemini program.

People here seem to assume that the four rich folks will be the only ones onboard such a solo-flight of Crew Dragon.
Here's news for you: wrong assumption.

(Here's new for you: It is wrong, but because they weren't all "rich folks".  )

Does dragon even have a good toilet?

The docking hatch has a window, one could use that as an extra view of the outside. Just saying...

Replacing docking mechanism by a vistadome?

It probably wouldn't be whatever a "vistadome" might be, like the cupola on the ISS, but it could be a window somewhat larger than the two on the DM-2 capsule.

(That was me!  Foolish me.)
and

Who wants to bet this never happens?

Red dragon?
lunar dragon?
dragon lab?

All of them never happened.

[Jarnis]

So, SpaceX lifting ideas from NSF forums confirmed? 

(replacing docking adapter with an extra window / dome)

[hektor]

I was the vistadome guy and I must say that in retrospect (my post was in Feb 2020) I am pretty happy with myself.   

What is a Vista Dome?

[hektor]

Simca Versailles ad. My grand dad had such a car. In retrospect I think I had an unconscious childhood reminiscence when I made this post.

Simca Versailles ad

[eeergo]

So, SpaceX lifting ideas from NSF forums confirmed? 

(replacing docking adapter with an extra window / dome)

Not unless that idea was conceived here pre-2008 (picture is by Rob Coppinger, from that year):

EDIT: Wrong interpretation: the picture shows a polished, reflective metal bottom that "turned out that way" when they built that prototype.

[ethan829]

So, SpaceX lifting ideas from NSF forums confirmed? 

(replacing docking adapter with an extra window / dome)

Not unless that idea was conceived here pre-2008 (picture is by Rob Coppinger, from that year):

I don't think that's a window. Looks like the polished bottom of a Dragon pressure vessel.

[eeergo]

So, SpaceX lifting ideas from NSF forums confirmed? 

(replacing docking adapter with an extra window / dome)

Not unless that idea was conceived here pre-2008 (picture is by Rob Coppinger, from that year):

I don't think that's a window. Looks like the polished bottom of a Dragon pressure vessel.

Why would it be so polished when the rest of the structure isn't, and moreover curved? This view shows clearly the bottoms are not curved. Admittedly the 2008 picture probably shows a prototype, so it might have a different design... but it's difficult to understand why they'd polish the bare metal so much, and then again if it's an early prototype it might have had a top tunnel design that resembled the bottom structure for construction commonality reasons.

It might be reflective rather than transparent either because of the lighting, coatings, double panes...

EDIT: Nevermind, just found the original source and the caption shows that indeed it's a shiny metal bottom: https://www.seradata.com/pictures_flight_five_falcon_1/

Here is part of the Dragon qualification article. It is the lower portion of the pressurised section. Standing next to it is SpaceX Falcon 9 programme integrator John Insprucker III who gave me the factory tour. He said there is no requirement for the base to be that shiny, it just turned out that way. Gives you a good view of the former Boeing 747 factory in its reflection anyway

[gongora]

https://japantoday.com/category/features/travel/us-firm-sees-'exciting'-moment-as-space-tourism-booms1

In early 2020, Space Adventures announced a partnership with SpaceX to send four people into Earth's orbit, reaching an altitude higher than the ISS, but there were few updates since.

"Ultimately our reservation with SpaceX expired and that's not a mission that we are going to be executing in the immediate future," Shelley said, but did not rule out future partnerships with the company.

[thirtyone]

I have this feeling this is related to a few notes earlier in the thread - why go through Space Adventures for a shared flight when you can work with SpaceX directly? There's probably just too small of a market of people who want to go into orbit but not the ISS, and can afford to pay for 1/4 of a very expensive spaceflight with people you don't know, vs. paying for 100% of it with buddies you're comfortable with for a yearlong training series.