After a journey of almost 21 hours, Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy arrived at the International Space Station at 8:29 a.m. EDT Saturday, April 9th. The Endeavor moored into orbit while the spacecraft flew about 260 miles over the central Atlantic Ocean. The crew of 11 people at the station consists of (bottom left) Expedition 67 flight engineers Denis Matveev, Kayla Barron, Oleg Artemyev and station commander Tom Marshburn. (center left) Axiom Mission 1 astronauts Mark Pathy, Eytan Stibbe, Larry Connor and Michael Lopez-Alegria. (top left) Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Sergey Korsakov, Raja Chari and Matthias Maurer. Credit: NASA The Dragon Endeavor landing was delayed by about 45 minutes as the space station crews, including NASA and SpaceX mission controllers, worked to resolve a problem that prevented crew members from receiving views from Dragon’s main camera at Harmony unit connection port. Mission teams worked to route videos using a SpaceX ground station to the space station crew, allowing the Dragon to proceed to the dock. The Moon is shown (bottom left) as the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor approaches the station with four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts. Credit: NASA TV After connecting the Dragon to the Harmony unit, NASA astronaut and commander Tom Marshburn put pressure on the space between the Dragon and the station hatches and leaked before opening the hatches to welcome the astronaut’s private crew. Axiom Mission 1 astronauts Michael Lopez Algeria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe docked at the International Space Station’s Harmony port on April 9, 2022, after launching on April 8 with the Endeavor SpaceX Crew spacecraft. on a Falcon 9. rocket. The four crew members will carry out an eight-day mission while living and working in the microgravity lab before disengaging to return to Earth in April xx. This is the first space flight for the Axiom Space and the first exclusively private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA The Axiom crew is part of the Expedition 67 crew, including NASA astronauts Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer and cosmonauts Roscosmos Oleg Matemorsokov and Serge. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on the Ax-1 mission to the space station. Credit: SpaceX When the Axiom Space Mission 1 (Ax-1) arrived on the International Space Station, it was the first all-private crew to reach the orbiting laboratory. It also marks the culmination of NASA’s efforts to promote a low-orbit commercial market on Earth and the beginning of a new era of space exploration that allows more people to fly on more missions. The Ax-1 crew will spend more than a week in the orbital laboratory conducting scientific, educational and commercial activities.
