The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which carried a retired NASA astronaut and three businessmen paid $ 55 million each to participate in the voyage, docked to the ISS at about 8:30 p.m. EDT after a 45-minute delay caused by a technical failure at the station.
“I hope you enjoyed the extra half orbit in Dragon,” SpaceX flight controllers said after the dock.
“We are delighted to be here, even when we are a little late, and looking forward to the next chapter,” said Commander Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut and station commander.
The Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), organized by Houston-based Axiom Space, is only the first of many long-awaited private crew missions in space, as the organization has already booked several other flights to the ISS with SpaceX. according to Space.com.
Axiom also aims to start launching units in the orbiting laboratory by the end of 2024, which will become a commercial low-orbit commercial space station on Earth.
The first purely civilian crew launched on the International Space Station (ISS) arrived safely on the research platform on Saturday to embark on a weekly scientific mission hailed as a landmark in commercial spaceflight.
The Axiom crew is pictured docking at the ISS on Saturday morning
The Axiom crew is welcomed by the ISS crews as they leave the Dragon and enter their home in space for the next eight days
PREVIOUS TOURISM FLIGHTS
Canadian investor Mark Pathy, American businessman Larry Connor and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe are the first aspiring spaceflight crew to be made up entirely of individuals on a mission to the International Space Station.
So far, Russia has sent seven self-funded tourists into space in cooperation with US-based Space Adventures.
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his aide Yozo Hirano became the last to do so when they spent a 12-day stay on the International Space Station late last year.
The Dragon Crew docked about 21 hours after the four-member Axiom multinational team – which includes Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy, US businessman Larry Connor and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe – disembarked from the Kien Space Center. the manufacture. riding on a Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX.
The crew of the Crew Dragon was launched into orbit by the rocket that landed on the ISS on Saturday as the two spacecraft flew about 250 miles over the central Atlantic Ocean, showed a live broadcast of the coupling from NASA.
The final approach was delayed due to a technical error that interrupted the video flow used to monitor the capsule appointment with the ISS.
Snafu forced the Dragon Crew to stop and hold its position 20 meters away from the station for about 45 minutes, while the control of the mission solved the problem.
Once the connection was reached, it took about two more hours to compress the sealed passageway between the space station and the crew capsule and check for leaks before the hatches opened, allowing the newly arrived astronauts to reach the ISS.
They were welcomed by members of the ISS crew, including NASA astronauts and members of the European Space Agency. With the addition of the Axiom crew there are now 11 people working and living in the orbiting laboratory.
After docking, the crew received a ground call from NASA’s Kathy Lueders and Michael Suffredini, President and CEO of Axiom Space, congratulating them on their groundbreaking achievement of becoming the first exclusively private crew to tie up to the ISS. .
Shortly afterwards, López-Alegría, 63, nailed Connor, Stibbe and Pathy in the role of commander with the Space Explorer Association badge, citing their status as astronauts.
“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 said before the pin. “When I pin them – I think the numbers are 582, 583 and 584 for Larry, Eytan and Mark – I hope they wear them with the pride they deserve.”
The Axiom crew will live and work in the ISS for the next eight days, conducting over 25 scientific experiments. The AX-1 mission is the first of many proposed Axiom Space missions to the ISS and a “critical first step” towards the development of the world’s first commercial space station.
The Dragon Crew took off Friday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX
The Dragon Crew docked at the ISS at around 8.30am on Saturday morning
With the docking, it was expected to take about two more hours to compress the sealed passageway between the space station and the crew capsule and check for leaks before the hatches opened, allowing the newly arrived astronauts to reach the ISS.
The Axiom multinational team was led by retired Spanish NASA astronaut Lopez-Alegria, 63, the company’s vice president of business development.
His second was Larry Connor, a 72-year-old real estate and technology businessman and aerobatic aviator from Ohio who was named as the mission pilot.
Completing the Ax-1 crew was investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, 64, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy, 52, who both served as mission experts.
Stibbe became the second Israeli to fly into space, after Ilan Ramon, who was killed along with six NASA comrades in the 2003 Columbia space shuttle crash.
While many have described Connor, Pathy and Stibbe as “space tourists”, López-Alegría disputed that description, claiming that the trio had been trained hard for their mission and would carry out a variety of scientific research while on the ISS.
He claims that the trio is very excited about the work they will be doing and has not stopped smiling since taking off.
“I think there are smiles that are still worn by the crew this morning,” López-Alegría said earlier Saturday as the team spent the last day adapting to the weightless space environment.
“I tried to eat a muffin this morning,” Conor said. “This did not happen as expected.”
The Axiom crew and the 11 members currently on the ISS are pictured together after the Crew Dragon docked on Saturday morning
Canadian investor Mark Pathy (center-left), American businessman Larry Connor (left) and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe (right) reportedly paid $ 55 million each to be the first fully commercial crew astronauts to fly to the International Space Station. With them is former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría (middle, right)
Blast off: SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule pictured shooting into space after launch from Florida on Friday
EXAMPLES OF MISSION RESEARCH AX-1
Larry Connor, pilot of the Ax-1 mission, businessman and non-profit activist investor, has a number of projects in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic. Connor’s experiments on behalf of the Mayo Clinic would provide data on the impact of space travel on aging cells and heart health. Connor is expected to be in charge of maintaining the aging cells – cells that have stopped dividing – in the ISS. These cells are linked to multiple age-related diseases, and understanding them can help protect astronauts on long-distance travel to Mars. Mark Pathy, an Ax-1 mission specialist, works for The Montreal Children’s Hospital, Canadian Research Universities, and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Collaborates with six Canadian universities, as well as two startups for “proof of idea” ideas. This includes the world’s first two-way all-in-one demonstration of space – a special augmented reality lens application that receives two-dimensional 3D projections as a hologram for remote communication between users. In addition to human research, Pathy plans to lead Earth observation activities, which will further analyze the effects of climate change, urbanization and other factors on the ecology and human habitation of North America. Eytan Stibbe, an Ax-1 mission expert, social impact investor and Israeli philanthropist, works for the Ramon Foundation. His mission is called “Rakia”, from the dome (atmosphere) created by God on the second day after the firmament, which protects life on Earth. During its mission, it will facilitate scientific experiments and conduct educational and artistic activities to connect the younger generation in Israel and around the world on the values of peace, innovation and social responsibility. For the first time, an astronaut will represent the Israelis on the International Space Station in Hebrew. The Axiom team will join the existing ISS seven regular, government-paid crew members – three American astronauts, a German astronaut from the European Space Agency and three Russian cosmonauts. The new arrivals brought with them dozens of scientific and biomedical experiments to be performed on the ISS, including brain health research, cardiac stem cells, cancer and aging, as well as a demonstration of technology for superficial optics production. of liquids in microgravity. Axiom also revealed that the astronauts will carry to the station technology built by the Israeli company, Aleph Farms. This will include bovine cells obtained from a cow that will be converted to raw meat by growing them into muscle, fat and …
