With the landing of the non-governmental Ax-1 mission to the space station, mentioned in the news thread, I though it might be interesting to narrow down the balance of costs between Axiom and NASA.
While NASA has a price list for use of its ISS resources, which has recently increased prices, Axiom’s flight also provided supplemental cargo upmass and/or downmass transportation, which NASA paid for. There is also insurance coverage that NASA required, but I do not think that was paid to NASA.
I am trying to collect information on what the final total actually was and who was paid.
Axiom stands to make a bit of money from NASA from the Ax-1, as the agency is paying about $6.6 million for Axiom to launch and return two Polar refrigerator/freezers for NASA science samples and to return an empty nitrogen tank.
NASA will deduct about $2.9 million for services it is providing to Axiom for the Ax-1 mission including crew supplies, cargo delivery to space, storage and in-orbit resources for daily use. The fees are based on NASA’s 2019 pricing policy
Axiom is paying NASA for access to the space station’s power and life support systems, food, and sleeping berths for the Ax-1 crew, and NASA required Axiom purchase liability insurance for the mission. NASA is paying some of that back to Axiom for return of government freezers and experiment specimens.
Between that pricing scheme, the agreement not representing a comprehensive accounting of the mission costs, and NASA paying Axiom for stowage capacity on the flight back to Earth for science payloads that must remain cold, the new agreement will result in NASA paying Axiom a balance of $1.69 million.