Photo: Axiom
As of last year, spaceflight has become a commercial affair. And by commercial we don’t mean private companies launching spacecraft on behalf of NASA, but private companies launching private citizens on behalf of money.
SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic all managed last year to turn their promises into reality, and flew their first missions into space. Blue Origin and Virgin offer quick and exciting rides to the edge of space, while SpaceX went a little further and gave four people with no prior astronaut training the full orbital experience for three days.
Come March 30, another company is joining the fun, and their plan is not to have people float around in a spaceship in orbit, but actually arrive on the International Space Station.
Axiom is the name of the company, and it will use a SpaceX Crew Dragon (the one named Endeavour, in this case) and a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver a private crew of four to the ISS.
This week, “NASA and its international partners” announced they approved the crew members of what will do down in history as Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1). They are Michael López-Alegría (former NASA astronaut and mission commander), Larry Connor (entrepreneur and pilot), Mark Pathy (investor), and Eytan Stibbe (investor) - these last two are mission specialists.
Once launched, this Axiom crew will spend a total of ten days in orbit, eight of them on board the ISS, “conducting science, education, and commercial activities.”
For what it’s worth, although most of them have no prior space experience, all the members of the crew have been training, since August of last year, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and in other locations, including the ones belonging to ESA and SpaceX.
“This represents another significant milestone in our efforts to create a low-Earth orbit economy,” said Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA. “I wish these Axiom crew members safe travels, and I hope they find their time in space productive and enjoyable.”
All the details of the Ax-1 mission can be found at this link.
Come March 30, another company is joining the fun, and their plan is not to have people float around in a spaceship in orbit, but actually arrive on the International Space Station.
Axiom is the name of the company, and it will use a SpaceX Crew Dragon (the one named Endeavour, in this case) and a Falcon 9 rocket to deliver a private crew of four to the ISS.
This week, “NASA and its international partners” announced they approved the crew members of what will do down in history as Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1). They are Michael López-Alegría (former NASA astronaut and mission commander), Larry Connor (entrepreneur and pilot), Mark Pathy (investor), and Eytan Stibbe (investor) - these last two are mission specialists.
Once launched, this Axiom crew will spend a total of ten days in orbit, eight of them on board the ISS, “conducting science, education, and commercial activities.”
For what it’s worth, although most of them have no prior space experience, all the members of the crew have been training, since August of last year, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and in other locations, including the ones belonging to ESA and SpaceX.
“This represents another significant milestone in our efforts to create a low-Earth orbit economy,” said Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA. “I wish these Axiom crew members safe travels, and I hope they find their time in space productive and enjoyable.”
All the details of the Ax-1 mission can be found at this link.
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