NASA and Axiom Space teamed up on April 9 to send four commercial astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). They have successfully completed the first step of what is the first-ever commercial mission to the space station here on Earth.
Eytan Stibbe, an Israeli investor and one of the mission specialists, entered the ISS first. Pilot Larry Connor and mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria joined him. Lopez-Alegria is a former NASA astronaut and vice president of Axiom, and he is the only non-paying customer of the Ax-1 mission. The other three, on the other hand, paid a whopping $55 million each for their first-ever space journey.
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And with that, the first completely private mission to the ISS has begun.#Ax1 pic.twitter.com/aanip5YNg7
— Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) Apr 9, 2022
On April 8, around 5:15 PM (IST), the capsule docked at the ISS in a scene captured on film. In just 24 hours, the images posted by SpaceX have been viewed more than two million times.
The crew will stay on the ISS for eight days to conduct various experiments.
“I think it will be a great experience, but one that will not be satisfying just because of the atmosphere,” said Lopez-Alegria, vice president of Axiom.
NASA said in a statement that the Crew Dragon Endeavor was docked at the orbit complex. This happened while the spacecraft was traveling 418 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean.
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#Ax1 astronauts inside @SpaceX Dragon is now connected to @Space station attached as dock.
— Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) Apr 9, 2022
Members of the Expedition 67 team greeted the crew. Astronauts Raja Chari, Marshburn and Kayla Barron, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Korsokov, Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer.
The four commercial Ax-1 astronauts have flown into the International Space Station.
Israeli investor Eytan Stibbe was the first, followed by Canadian entrepreneur Mark Pathy, American businessman Larry Connor and retired NASA astronaut Mike López-Alegría. pic.twitter.com/FkDHZE0tfo
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) Apr 9, 2022
Axiom Space Inc., a Houston-based company, has chosen the Ax-1’s four-person crew. It is the company’s historic first space flight. Three customers who paid for the mission, as well as Axiom employee Michael López-Alegra, will be sent to the International Space Station for an eight-day stay.
Cover image: Axiom Space/Twitter