Last night, an Axiom Space mission carrying a private crew blasted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked with the ISS this morning—it’s a small glimpse into the future of the commercialization of space.
to attach to the ISS, with up to three modules to follow. The first one is expected to launch in late 2025, and once NASA and its partners decommission and deorbit the ISS, Axiom’s modules will detach and merge with each other, becoming a standalone space station.
But in the interim, private passengers and seasoned space agency astronauts will need to learn how to live and work side by side. Over time, as the number of visitors and modules add up, the interactions between Axiom passengers and traditional astronauts could change, especially once the private customers essentially have their own orbital hotel rooms. “These missions are very important to us at NASA as we try to open up space to a greater cross section of society.
Ax-2, as this spaceflight is called, is carrying three paying visitors for an eight-day stay, plus Commander Whitson, Axiom's director of human space flight, who will build on her record as the American who has spent the most time in space—665 days. The other members of the quartet include American race-car driver and businessman John Shoffner, Royal Saudi Air Force pilot Ali AlQarni, and biomedical researcher Rayyanah Barnawi.
The Saudi Arabian government is paying for their tickets, and Shoffner is paying for his own. Axiom declined to reveal the exact ticket price for this flight, although the coveted seats for Ax-1 in 2022 cost in the ballpark of $55 million apiece. Barnawi and AlQarni’s presence onboard Ax-2 will mark a major success for the human spaceflight program of the Saudi Space Commission, which the Saudi government established in December 2018. Saudi Arabia has recently increased its involvement in space activities, including joining the US-led
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