The International Space Station (ISS) is supposed to receive four new crew members on Friday (8). The travelers are members of the first fully private mission sent to the Space Lab.
Special astronauts took off from a base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, around 12:10 p.m. They are scheduled to join the rest of the International Space Station on Saturday (9).
The event marks a new step towards the privatization of the so-called low orbit – an area where satellites and the International Space Station itself are located.
Larry Connor, Mark Bathy, Michael Lopez-Alegria and Eitan Stipe, Ax-1 mission crew members – Image: Disclosure
The mission will take 10 days, and within 8 days the crew will be aboard the International Space Station. Named Ax-1, the mission is organized by Axiom Space, which has contracted for the flight SpaceXfrom billionaire Elon Musk.
The event was broadcast on the official channel of the Musk satellite company, and the event was attended by more than 130 thousand spectators. On the rocket are three businessmen who paid tens of millions of dollars each and a former astronaut who was on the International Space Station. These are the passengers of the Ax-1:
- Michael Lopez Allegria (Captain): A former astronaut NASA Vice President of Axiom Space
- Larry Connor (Beta): It will be the American businessman and president of the real estate investment firm Connor Group, Ax-1
- Mark Bathy (Mission Specialist): Canadian Entrepreneur and President of Mavrik استثمار Investment Company
- Eitan Step (Mission Specialist): Investor and former Israeli military pilot
According to Michael Suffredini, President of Axiom Space, “They will do important researchThe crew will conduct 25 scientific experiments, some of them on stem cells or heart health, in cooperation with research centers on the ground.
At a press conference before the mission, the commander said that the purpose of the “visit” to the space laboratory had scientific relevance.
“We are not space tourists,” Lopez Allegria told a news conference. “It’s not a vacation.”
Create a private ISS
On the other hand, Axiom Space also has commercial interests. According to the company, this will be the first of several visits to the International Space Station for study – the company plans to build a private space station.
Axiom Space has an agreement to perform four missions with SpaceX. NASA, which charges for accommodation on the International Space Station, has already agreed to start the Ax-2 mission, the company’s second mission.
Axiom Space has hired SpaceX to fly its astronauts to the International Space Station – Photo: Disclosure
“Private astronauts plan to research with real impact,” says Robin Gatines, director of the International Space Station, in an interview. The crew will also take the opportunity to bring NASA’s experiments back to Earth, which it says will be very useful because the air lab is overcrowded.
NASA is encouraging a move toward low orbit privatization, which no longer wants to manage the operation of a station, but instead wants to hire the services of private structures, to focus on distant exploration.
In 2021, Russia also sent new arrivals to the International Space Station: Film crew for filmingNext to Japanese billionaire and his assistant.
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With information from Agence France-Presse.
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