NASA has approved a completely private charge to the International Space Station, run by theU.S. company Axiom Space. In a statement, NASA said that, “ NASA and its transnational mates have approved the Axiom Mission 1 crew for the first private astronaut charge to the International Space Station through the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel,” and verified that the crew has cleared medical evaluations.
Axiom Space
The charge, called Axiom Mission 1, will see four trippers transferred to the International Space Station. They include professionally trained former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, who flew on three Space Shuttle operations and has preliminarily stayed on the ISS for one charge. He also holds the record for the loftiest number hours spent on spacewalks by an American, having spent a aggregate of 67 hours across the 10 spacewalks he performed over his career (via NASA).
In addition to López-Alegría, the crew includes Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe, from theU.S., Canada, and Israel independently.
Axion Mission 1 is set to launch on 28 February 2022, with an eight- day stay on the space station. According to Axiom Space, the crew will be performing exploration during their trip. The company says on its website that, “ Layoff-1 crew members will devote their eight- day charge aboard the ISS conducting innovative exploration developed for microgravity on behalf of major associations ranging from hospitals to technology companies. Critical findings from the expansive array of trials will make their way back to Earth and humankind.”
Axiom Space is a private space company which is aiming to not only give marketable breakouts to the International Space Station, but also to ultimately enjoy and operate its own private space station (via Space). The reported price for a trip to the ISS is an eye- soddening$ 55 million for a 10- day charge, which includes costs for the trip to and from the station, the stay on the station itself, and training for the charge.
The ISS has been the point for colorful private operations in the last many months, including a Russian film crew and actress who were working on a movie incompletely shot in space, and a recent trip by three Japanese space excursionists.
