As planned, at around 5:17 p.m. (Spanish Peninsula time) this Friday, Axiom-1 (Ax-1), the first privately manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS), has launched, as confirmed and broadcasted by Axiom Space, the company leading the project. “The Ax-1 crew has launched! Good luck, let’s go!” cheered from their Twitter account.
Miguel López Alegría leads this mission, with American Larry Connor as pilot and two specialists: Canadian Mark Pathy and Israeli Eytan Stibbe.
Axiom Space has, in turn, hired Elon Musk’s company Space X to transport the four passengers to the orbital complex using a reusable Falcon 9 rocket, which departed from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the crewed Dragon spacecraft.
Ax-1 is commanded by former Spanish-American NASA astronaut Miguel López-Alegría, born in Madrid, trained in the U.S., and with extensive experience in four previous space missions. The other three civilians (wealthy entrepreneurs and philanthropists who have each paid around 55 million dollars) are American Larry Connor, who will act as the pilot, and two mission specialists: Israeli Eytan Stibbe and Canadian Mark Pathy.
During the 10-day mission, which includes eight days aboard the space station, this multinational crew will complete over 25 research experiments developed for microgravity conditions in collaboration with various medical and scientific institutions.
The experiments will include studies on self-assembly technology for future space habitats, devices to purify the air in those environments, regenerative medicine and cancer research, among others. In addition, outreach and commercial activities will also be conducted.
Derek Hassmann, operations director at Axiom Space, also highlighted on Thursday during a conference that Ax-1 is the first mission in a series planned by the company towards the space station to prepare for the construction of a commercial space station between 2024-2030, which will be connected to the ISS.
As a side note, Spanish chef José Andrés has prepared some of the dishes that the four crew members will eat at the space station, including “paella, ratatouille with pork, Iberian ham, and Marcona almonds.”
Source: MiMub in Spanish
