Axiom Space was founded in 2016 with the goal of creating the world's first commercial space station. In early 2020,NASA announced that Axiom had been granted access to the forward port of theISS'Harmony module, to which Axiom plans to berth the first node of theAxiom Orbital Segment; a complex that could grow to five pressurized modules after 2024 with a large observation window – similar to the currentCupola mounted on the Nadir side ofTranquility. This new addition to the ISS will be able to facilitate the company's activities inlow Earth orbit.[9] Prior to the first module's launch as early as 2024, Axiom planned to organize and fly crewed missions to the ISS, consisting of either paying private astronauts orastronauts from public agencies or private organizations.[10] In March 2020, Axiom announced they would charter a flight to the ISS withSpaceX'sCrew Dragon spacecraft as early as late 2021.[11] This mission is the first wholly commercially operated crewed mission to the ISS, and one of the first dedicated orbital private crew missions, alongsideRoscosmos'Soyuz MS-20 mission in December 2021.[12] Following their first flight, Axiom plans to offer crewed flights to the ISS as often as twice per year, "aligning with the flight opportunities as they are made available by NASA".[13]
Michael López-Alegría was chosen as a commercial astronaut.[6] The other three seats were reserved forspace tourists, announced to cost US$55 million each.[14]
Following the launch ofCrew Dragon Demo-2 in May 2020, the first crewed test flight ofDragon 2, Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini said that they planned to announce the names of the crew in "a month or so";[15] Ars Technica reported that the full crew complement would "probably be unveiled in January 2021".[16] On January 26, 2021, Axiom revealed the full crew of the mission, consisting of Michael López-Alegría, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe.[17][18][19][20][21] They also announcedPeggy Whitson as the backup commander for the mission and John Shoffner as backup pilot.[22][23] Eytan Stibbe's backup was his daughter Dr. Shir Stibbe.[24] Michael Lopez-Alegria is a former NASA astronaut and Axiom Space VP.[25] John Shoffner is an airshow pilot and entrepreneur, and not an Axiom employee nor a government trained astronaut.[18] Peggy Whitson is a former NASA astronaut and Axiom consultant.[25]
It was reported that actorTom Cruise and film producerDoug Liman would be passengers for a movie project,[26] but it was later announced that they would fly on a subsequent flight.[27]
The mission launched at 11:17 EDT on April 8, 2022.[5] It launched atop aFalcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle fromKennedy Space Center'sLaunch Complex 39A (LC-39A), a NASA-owned launch pad leased to SpaceX for Falcon 9 launches. The mission was flown aboardCrew DragonEndeavour, which previously supported theCrew Dragon Demo-2 andSpaceX Crew-2 missions.[28] From there the spacecraft spent less than a day in transit to the station and dock withHarmony, where they were planned to spend ten days aboard the International Space Station (ISS).[29] Following their time on the ISS, the spacecraft undocked with plans to return toEarth via asplashdown in theAtlantic Ocean. Bad weather in the landing zone delayed the return,[30] as result the crew spent 16 days docked to the ISS for a total of 17 days in orbit.[2]
It was revealed that the "zero-g indicator" aboard the first private mission to visit the International Space Station was a toy dog calledCaramel, the mascot for theMontreal Children's Hospital Foundation.[31]
During their days aboard theISS, the private crew conducted more than 25 different research experiments.[32]
The Israeli mission segment is calledRakia, which means "sky" inHebrew and is also the title of the book published withIlan Ramon's diary fragments that survived the 2003Space ShuttleColumbia disaster.[33]
Connor also carried aboard three items on behalf of theArmstrong Air & Space Museum. With Connor being an Ohio-native, the items included aJohn Glenn senatorial campaign button, a patch of the Armstrong Air & Space Museum, and a piece of Kapton foil removed from theApollo 11 Command Module after splashdown.[34]
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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Michael López-Alegría,Axiom Space
Eytan Stibbe
Mark Pathy.jpg)
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