Axiom has been making headlines for a long time, starting with its announcement to replace the ISS with a commercial space station in 2017. The company, led by former NASA ISS program director Michael Suffredini, said it may be interested in reusing tracks of the ISS for the project. But such a venture takes time, and the first Axiom unit is unlikely to be released by the end of 2024, with subsequent units coming closer to the end of this decade. Axiom, meanwhile, was working hard to send the first all-private crew to the ISS. Axiom launched what it calls the Ax-1 mission Friday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, using a SpaceX Dragon capsule launched by a Falcon 9. rocket. The crew docked at the ISS at 8:29 a.m. ET Saturday. (Axiom says this part of the mission was slightly delayed as the ground boots at NASA and SpaceX took about 45 minutes to deal with an in-flight navigation problem.) The crew opened the SpaceX Falcon Endeavor hatch at 10:13 p.m. a.m. The Expedition 67 crew member who was already on the ISS celebrated the arrival of the Ax-1 with a welcoming ceremony. The Ax-1 crew includes former NASA commander and astronaut Michael López-Alegría (veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one ISS mission), real estate businessman Larry Connor, former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe and Canadian businessman Mark Pathy. . The four will remain on the ISS for eight days while taking samples for NASA and assisting in 25 different biological and technological fields. As soon as he landed safely on the ISS, the López-Alegría mission commander presented Connor, Stibbe and Pathy with pins from the Space Explorers Association (ASE) marking the start of the crew’s space voyage. ASE has been using the pin to unite explorers and space enthusiasts for over 30 years. “There is a tradition that when you cross a certain limit you become an astronaut. This happened to these three gentlemen for the first time yesterday. “Now I would like to note it officially,” López-Alegría explained as he nailed his colleagues at Ax-1. “I hope they will wear them with the pride they deserve.” Read now:
