Russia’s Energia space corporation to take the first tourist on a space walk in 2023

Russia’s Energia space corporation said, it’ll take the first tourist on a space walk in 2023, under the terms of a new agreement with a US partner.

Energia has made an agreement with Space Adventures, which promises to take two space tourists to the International Space Station in 2023.

“We plan that one of the participants of the expedition will do a space walk from the Russian segment, together with a professional Russian cosmonaut,” said Energia, which is part of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos.

The declaration comes days after NASA signed a contract with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company to promote private missions to the station after a special training program in the US.

It also follows the first successful mission by Elon Musk’s SpaceX in June to bring astronauts to the station on a reusable Crew Dragon spacecraft, ending nearly a decade of Russia holding a monopoly on shuttling humans to orbit.

SpaceX in March declared its own space tourism trip for three people in 2021, on board of the Crew Dragon.

On its website, Space Adventures already advertises the space walk as a “rare and exhilarating experience,” available only through the Russian programme.

“If you choose to fly to space on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, you have the opportunity to… conduct a spacewalk, accompanied by a professional cosmonaut,” it says.

The company along with the Russian agency previously took eight tourists to the ISS between 2001 and 2009.

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