The first fully privately organized flight to the International Space Station (ISS) departed Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in the US state of Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has taken off from Cape Canaveral with three contractors and an ex-NASA astronaut aboard. The four men will reach the ISS on Saturday aboard a SpaceX “Dragon” capsule and remain in space for eight days at Humanity’s Outpost.
The flight is being organized by the American space company Axiom Space. The three paying crew members of the Ax-1 mission are American real estate investor Larry Connor, Canadian businessman Mark Pathy and Israeli entrepreneur and former fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe. According to media reports, they would each have paid 55 million dollars (50 million euros) for the flight. Commander is former US-Spanish NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría.
The men will conduct about 25 experiments aboard the space station. They therefore reject the term ‘space tourists’ for themselves. Instead, Larry Connor spoke of “private astronauts”. For the flight, Axiom Space teamed up with SpaceX, Tesla founder Elon Musk. The two companies have agreed on a total of four missions. The American space agency NASA has already approved the second Ax-2 mission.
Multiple private visits to ISS
Private individuals have repeatedly visited the ISS in the past. Last year, a Russian film crew flew to film the space station, as did Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. However, they use “Soyuz” rockets from the Russian space agency Roskosmos.
Build a private space station as a target
Axiom Space sees the missions as the first steps towards a bigger goal: building its own space station. According to the company, the first module will go into space in 2024. It will initially dock as a new segment on the ISS. When the ISS is decommissioned by the end of the decade, it will remain in space.
In the long term, NASA wants to leave the so-called near-earth orbit to the private sector, which will operate space stations there for research and business purposes. NASA wants to focus itself on space exploration and travel to the moon and Mars.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
