SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket with three private astronauts aboard, heading to the International Space Station on April 8th. (Image Credit: Axiom Space)
Poised to return to Earth, and nothing terrible happened. That’s an achievment.
On April 8th, SpaceX launched three private astronauts to the international space station aboard the Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew reached the ISS on April 9th at 10:13 a.m., making it the first-ever private-crewed mission at the orbiting laboratory. It also marks the first Axiom Space (Ax-1) crewed mission.
The Ax-1 crew consists of mission lead and Axiom employee Michael Lopez-Alegria, Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, notable American real estate Larry Connor, and Canadian investor Mark Pathy. This crew joins the Expedition 67 crew members. They include NASA astronauts Marshburn, Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Sergey Korsakov, and Denis Matveev are also aboard the orbiting station.
This image shows the Axiom-1 space crew aboard the ISS with other astronauts. (Image Credit: NASA)
The AX-1 crew stays aboard the space station for over a week, starting from their arrival date. Each member paid approximately $55 million per seat. While there, they conducted science experiments and delivered supplies. For example, one experiment involves a brain headset developed by an Israeli startup aiming to observe how a human brain operates while in space. The Ax-1 crew completed most of the research while aboard and is now preparing to undock from the ISS.
This also marks the first step for Axiom's plan to develop the first commercial space station in the Earth's orbit. It expects to launch the first module to the ISS by 2024, while the rest gradually arrives in the following years. Once it reaches a sufficient scale, Axiom says it will detach from the ISS, constituting the firm's space station.
Have a story tip? Message me at: http://twitter.com/Cabe_Atwell