SpaceX poised to send first private crew to the International Space Station for Axiom Space - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/04\/08\/spacex-poised-to-send-first-private-crew-to-the-international-space-station-for-axiom-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SpaceX poised to send first private crew to the International Space Station for Axiom Space - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: Tomorrow morning, SpaceX is set to launch yet another crew of four to the International Space Station from Florida \u2014 but unlike most of the company\u2019s passenger flights, this new crop of flyers won\u2019t include any current NASA astronauts. All four members of the crew are civilians, flying with a commercial aerospace company called […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/04\/08\/spacex-poised-to-send-first-private-crew-to-the-international-space-station-for-axiom-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T15:33:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T15:33:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/2tLxQ8915LN-R8SMakJ9_kQ5mLY=\/0x0:3240x2160\/1200x0\/filters:focal(0x0:3240x2160):no_upscale()\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/23373987\/51983862187_8ea41d9dbe_o.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/04\/08\/spacex-poised-to-send-first-private-crew-to-the-international-space-station-for-axiom-space\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/04\/08\/spacex-poised-to-send-first-private-crew-to-the-international-space-station-for-axiom-space\/\",\"name\":\"SpaceX poised to send first private crew to the International Space Station for Axiom Space - 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\nTomorrow morning, SpaceX is set to launch yet another crew of four to the International Space Station from Florida \u2014 but unlike most of the company\u2019s passenger flights, this new crop of flyers won\u2019t include any current NASA astronauts. All four members of the crew are civilians, flying with a commercial aerospace company called Axiom Space. Their flight will mark the first time a completely private crew has visited the ISS.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new type of human spaceflight mission and one that comes with a hefty price tag for its participants. Three of the four flyers have each paid a reported $55 million for their seats<\/a> on SpaceX\u2019s crew capsule, called the Crew Dragon. The trio of novice spacefarers includes Canadian investor Mark Pathy, American real estate investor Larry Connor, and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe. The commander of the trip is a spaceflight veteran: Michael L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda, a former NASA astronaut who has flown four missions to space and now serves as a vice president of Axiom.<\/p>\n
\nThe company\u2019s goal is to \u201cmake space more accessible to everyone\u201d<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\nTheir mission, called Ax-1, is the latest in an emerging trend of completely private astronaut flights to orbit. For the bulk of spaceflight history, human spaceflight missions were almost exclusively conducted by government-run space programs. That\u2019s changing as the commercial space industry has leaped forward over the last few decades. At the head of the pack is SpaceX, which has proven it can safely send people to and from low Earth orbit on its Crew Dragon. While SpaceX primarily launches NASA astronauts, the company has started flexing its muscles of late and begun conducting civilian crew flights without NASA\u2019s input.<\/p>\nCivilian flights like these are only going to become more common. Axiom \u2014 which strives to create a fleet of commercial space stations \u2014 has arranged for <\/strong>three additional private crew missions to the ISS<\/a>, just like Ax-1, to gear up for the creation of its first station. The company\u2019s goal is to \u201cmake space more accessible to everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThis really does represent the first step where a bunch of individuals who want to do something meaningful in low Earth orbit \u2014 that aren\u2019t members of a government \u2014 are able to take this opportunity,\u201d Mike Suffredini, Axiom\u2019s CEO and the former program manager of the ISS at NASA, said during a press conference. Though, until costs come down, such individuals will need a fat wallet.<\/p>\n
A new paradigm<\/strong><\/h2>\nAxiom is capitalizing on some crucial timing, as SpaceX transitions into a new phase of operation with the Crew Dragon. Originally, SpaceX developed the Crew Dragon for NASA in order to ferry the agency\u2019s astronauts to and from the International Space Station. With an original contract worth $2.6 billion and after more than six years of development, SpaceX successfully launched its first crew on the Crew Dragon in May 2020<\/a>, sending two NASA astronauts to the ISS.<\/p>\n
The ultimate goal for NASA was to offload transportation to the ISS to the private sector, but a secondary goal was for SpaceX to eventually use the capsule to conduct crewed missions of its own. With the Axiom missions, that\u2019s exactly what SpaceX is doing: using the protocols and technology it developed for NASA to build an entirely separate commercial business for human spaceflight.<\/p>\n
\n\n  <\/p>\n    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/source><\/picture>\n
    <\/span><\/p>\n
  <\/span><\/p>\n
    SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon with Axiom\u2019s logo adorned on the side.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: SpaceX<\/cite><\/p>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nCoinciding with SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon development was a big policy change at NASA. In 2019, NASA announced that it was going to open up the facilities<\/a> on the International Space Station to more commercial opportunities as well as encourage private astronauts to visit the ISS on US spacecraft. Such activities used to be discouraged, and while wealthy space tourists have visited the station before, all flew on Russian Soyuz vehicles. Now, with this new change, people <\/strong>who booked a flight <\/strong>to the ISS on US spacecraft could potentially use the station\u2019s facilities for commercial activities, such as shooting movies or advertisements.<\/p>\n
Of course, using the ISS\u2019s various systems will cost you, just as it would if you were using the fancy amenities at a hotel. According to the agency\u2019s announcement, NASA planned to charge $11,250 per day per person to use the station\u2019s life support system and toilet. Providing provisions like food, medical supplies, and exercise equipment would cost a combined $22,500 per day per person.<\/p>\n
\nUsing the ISS\u2019s various systems will cost you, just as it would at a hotel<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\nWith all of these changes, Axiom saw an opportunity. Currently, the company is working to build its first commercial space station, called Axiom Station, with plans to eventually attach the first module of the orbiting outpost to the ISS as early as 2024<\/a>. They plan to test out the module on the ISS <\/strong>before breaking away and creating the company\u2019s own free-flying station. To prepare for this big step, Axiom turned to SpaceX to conduct a series of precursor missions to the ISS \u2014 essentially a series of dress rehearsals for when Axiom sends people to its own space station one day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis precursor mission is important, because not only are we developing the techniques that we\u2019re going to be using communicating with the ground to space here in mission control at Axiom, but we\u2019re also developing all the procedures and processes that make a spaceflight possible,\u201d Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom, said. Whitson will serve as commander of Axiom\u2019s next mission, Ax-2.<\/p>\n
Ax-1 to orbit<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe Ax-1 crew will join a number of other <\/strong>wealthy private flyers paying <\/strong>their way to space. Apart from the handful of space tourists who have already visited the station, rich spacefarers have also begun purchasing pricey tickets for rides on suborbital vehicles operated by companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, allowing them to spend just a few short minutes at the edge of space.<\/p>\n
The Ax-1 mission, however, will be much grander in scope than those missions. \u201cOur feeling is with the space tourists, they\u2019ll spend 10 or 15 hours training, 5 to 10 minutes in space,\u201d crew member Larry Connor said. \u201cAnd by the way, that\u2019s fine. In our case, depending upon our role, we\u2019ve spent anywhere from 750 to over 1,000 hours training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve spent anywhere from 750 to over 1,000 hours training.\u201d<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\nAnother private SpaceX launch last year, called Inspiration4, sent a private four-person crew into orbit inside a Crew Dragon for about three days \u2014 where they enjoyed views out the window and conducted a handful of experiments. Ax-1 will be at the station for eight days, and the crew has a whole suite of space experiments planned. Together, the four flyers will be conducting a total of 25 different science experiments<\/a>, which will take about 100 hours to complete. These include human physiology experiments for the Mayo Clinic, as well as a two-way 3D hologram demonstration using a Microsoft HoloLens.<\/p>\n
The Ax-1 astronauts will primarily be living and working in the US portion of the ISS, though they\u2019ll enter the Russian portion of the station by invitation from the cosmonauts on board. Despite tensions between Russia and the United States, the two countries have continued to work together<\/a> to maintain daily operations of the ISS. Currently, there are three Russian cosmonauts living on the ISS, three NASA astronauts, and one German astronaut with the European Space Agency.<\/p>\n
\n\n  <\/p>\n    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/source><\/picture>\n
    <\/span><\/p>\n
  <\/span><\/p>\n
    The International Space Station as seen from a Crew Dragon in 2021.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: NASA<\/cite><\/p>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Axiom hasn\u2019t provided concrete details on how much this mission will cost, only that they will be paying NASA some<\/em> amount of money for use of the ISS. \u201cWe have to compensate NASA for the use of the ISS and other services, and we have done that,\u201d Suffredini said. He also noted that NASA may knock off some costs in return for Axiom\u2019s services. \u201cThere are some things we are doing on this flight that helps NASA out, which we get credit for.\u201d Suffredini also wouldn\u2019t say if Axiom is making a profit on this mission, simply that Ax-1 is in line with the company\u2019s original vision for the mission.<\/p>\n
Ax-1 is still something of a watershed moment for the space station, though, given how it is funded and who is onboard. \u201cWe are taking the first step in a next generation platform initiative that\u2019s going to bring working, living, and research in space to a much broader and more international audience,\u201d commander L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda said. <\/p>\n
Of course, to participate, <\/strong>that audience still needs to have about $55 million to spare for a seat. So while Axiom may be opening up space to more flyers than before, it\u2019s still a relatively small pool to choose from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/br><\/code><\/p>\nSource: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/4\/7\/23013067\/spacex-crew-dragon-axiom-space-ax-1-iss-launch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Source: Tomorrow morning, SpaceX is set to launch yet another crew of four to the International Space Station from Florida \u2014 but unlike most of the company\u2019s passenger flights, this new crop of flyers won\u2019t include any current NASA astronauts. All four members of the crew are civilians, flying with a commercial aerospace company called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","category-space"],"yoast_head":"\nSpaceX poised to send first private crew to the International Space Station for Axiom Space - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/04\/08\/spacex-poised-to-send-first-private-crew-to-the-international-space-station-for-axiom-space\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SpaceX poised to send first private crew to the International Space Station for Axiom Space - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: Tomorrow morning, SpaceX is set to launch yet another crew of four to the International Space Station from Florida \u2014 but unlike most of the company\u2019s passenger flights, this new crop of flyers won\u2019t include any current NASA astronauts. 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