What you need to know about Axiom Space, the company behind the first totally private mission to the ISS

Russian cosmonauts wear uniforms in the colors of Ukraine 2:33 (CNN) — For the first time in history, a crew of four civilians will blast off this week for the International Space Station (ISS), as part of a maiden mission for the company of commercial space flights Axiom Space. They’ll travel on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and dock at the station via a SpaceX Dragon capsule, but don’t confuse Axiom with Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company. This one has a completely different purpose. Axiom focuses less on building rockets than on rethinking the future of space stations. The four crew members — three paying passengers and a former NASA astronaut serving as commander — participating in the mission, dubbed Ax-1, will be transported to the ISS by SpaceX vehicles as part of the 10-day trip. . Axiom has made arrangements with NASA for them to spend eight days aboard the orbiting laboratory managed by a team of international agencies. While on the ISS, civilians are scheduled to help with more than two dozen scientific experiments, paving the way for the development of Axiom’s plans to build the first commercial space station. Axiom, SpaceX and NASA announced Sunday night that they estimate the launch for no earlier than Friday at 11:17 am (Miami time), and that it will take off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If liftoff occurs on Friday, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule docking with the station is scheduled for early Saturday morning. Those interested in seeing the launch can tune in via NASA and Axiom Space’s live coverage of the event on Friday morning. The Ax-1 crew (from left to right): Larry Connor, Michael López-Alegría, Mark Pathy, Michael López-Alegría and Eytan Stibbe. The commander of the first private astronaut mission to the ISS is Axiom’s Michael López-Alegría, a veteran Hispanic-American NASA astronaut with four previous spaceflights under his belt, and who now holds the professional title of Vice President of Business Development for Axiom. . He will be joined by three fee-paying crewmates: America’s Larry Connor, Israel’s Eytan Stibbe and Canada’s Mark Pathy, each of whom pinned an estimated US$55 million to Axiom to put the ride into orbit. . (Axiom did not publicly disclose the specific financial details of the trip.) Here’s what to know about the upcoming Axiom spaceflight, which comes as a handful of private companies seek to commercialize space beyond our planet. What is AxiomSpace? The Houston-based company Axiom Space that oversees the entire mission does not build launch vehicles or rockets like other players in the emerging private spaceflight industry, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. The company organizes so-called “private astronaut” missions to the ISS, which include 17 weeks of training and customized itineraries based on the individual goals of those rich enough to pay for the trip. Ax-1 is the company’s first of these planned voyages to the ISS, and late last year, NASA and Axiom announced that they intend to launch Ax-2 between fall 2022 and spring 2023. In addition to its services of manned space flights, Axiom also offers opportunities on its website for companies and individuals seeking to access space for research purposes. The Ax-1 crew during Zero-G flight training NASA uses the term “private astronaut missions” to refer to “missions that are privately funded, fully commercial spaceflight in a commercial launch vehicle in order to allow tourism, outreach, commercial research, and approved commercial and marketing activities on the space station.” However, the definition for referring to ultra-wealthy thrill-seekers with the title of “astronaut” has sparked heated debates on the internet in recent years. In January 2020, NASA selected Axiom to provide at least one commercial habitable module to be added to the ISS’s Harmony node in 2024. Axiom said it has plans for its module to be ready to separate from the station in late 2028. and operate as the first building block of a private commercial space station. Axiom’s ambitious plans to build the first private space station and pioneer the commercialization of low Earth orbit are what he believes set it apart from others in the nascent private space industry. The company even touts the Ax-1 mission as “an important step toward Axiom’s goal of building a private space station in low-Earth orbit that can serve as a global academic and commercial hub.” A commercial low-Earth orbit destination Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini, a 30-year NASA veteran who served as ISS program manager from 2005 to 2015, during a pre-launch press conference last week described Ax- 1 as a “precursor mission” to the company’s plans to get its fully commercial space station assembled and into orbit. While Axiom partners with SpaceX to launch its private astronauts, “SpaceX is just a taxi,” John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, told CNN Business of the space company’s role. Musk in this Axiom mission. Logsdon, who was the founder and longtime director of GW’s Space Policy Institute, added that he sees Axiom’s inaugural private astronaut mission as “the first step in a process that could result in one or more private space stations doing a variety of things in low Earth orbit. “We’ve had the International Space Station in orbit, with people on board, since the year 2000,” Logsdon added. “NASA says it will take it out of orbit around 2030 and hand over the use of low Earth orbit to the private sector.” The Ax-1 crew (from left to right) Mark Pathy, Larry Connor, Michael López-Alegría and Eytan Stibbe on SpaceX Crew Dragon during training. Axiom Space “is the first company in the private sector to prepare for that transition,” according to Logsdon. He added that construction of the first modules of the Axiom space station is already underway overseas, with them scheduled to be shipped to Houston for final assembly next year, before their tentative launch in 2024. “Like all business investments, there is a high risk of failure, but there is a chance, a very real chance of success, success in terms of the economic benefits of doing things in space,” Logsdon said. In February 2021, Axiom said it had raised some $130 million from investors, adding that “the new funding will accelerate the growth of Axiom’s workforce and the construction of its private development space station.” While private astronauts looking to venture beyond the Earth’s surface can strike a launch deal directly with SpaceX, as billionaire Jared Isaacman did last year for his self-funded Inspiration4 mission, Logsdon distinguishes that the purpose of the Axiom’s mission is “fundamentally different from Inspiration4”. Logsdon said these voyages are the first step in the process toward Axiom’s main goal of building a commercial space station to replace the ISS. The Inspiration4 mission was “basically a tourist trip,” he added. While it may be years before opportunities to visit a commercial space station become available to more than the wealthy, Logsdon points out that a private space station could provide benefits beyond vacations for the wealthy, especially if the ISS is withdrawn as planned, and scientists, engineers, and other researchers look for alternatives. The privatization of human spaceflight is becoming an increasingly crowded sector amid the rise of a small set of space tourism companies. However, Axiom CEO Suffredini said during last Friday’s press conference that he believes the company’s plan to create the first commercial space station and launch the first commercial module to be added to the ISS in 2024 gives it the company an innovative “business plan”. “We think it puts us in a good position relative to the competition, but we’re happy there are others to help us grow the LEO economy.” [low-earth-orbit en inglés, órbita terrestre baja en español] along the way,” Suffredini said. Logsdon said he has watched human spaceflight launches for decades and was at the Kennedy Space Center for the Apollo 11 launch that put the first humans on the moon in 1969. private sector in spaceflight has taken some of that historic verve, he said he still plans to attend this launch.

1 thought on “What you need to know about Axiom Space, the company behind the first totally private mission to the ISS”

  1. Download Bella Eilish – Electro Lounge Album Mp3 Zip 2020-05-03
    Download Absynth – Ra Album Mp3 Zip 2020-03-16
    Download Scott Hamilton, Alfred Kramer, Paolo Birro & Aldo Zunino – Live at Museo Piaggio (Live) [Fonè Jazz] Album Mp3 Zip 2020-03-15
    Download In Vivo – Mars I Venera Album Mp3 Zip 2019-12-15
    Download In Vivo – Mars I Venera Album Mp3 Zip 2019-12-15
    Download Asko Keränen & Antero Priha – Underground Jazz Festival Orchestra Album Mp3 Zip 2019-07-20
    Download La Plata – 01 03 2019 – EP Album Mp3 Zip 2019-03-29
    Download Martina Lecaros – Estelar Album Mp3 Zip 2018-10-19
    Download Kai Ken – Call of the Reaper Album Mp3 Zip 2018-09-25
    Download J. Stew – Godmademedifferent Album Mp3 Zip 2018-08-10
    Download Caroline Mayer – Caroline Mayer Album Mp3 Zip 2018-07-03
    Download To The Point – Reinventing the Wheel: The First 25 Album Mp3 Zip 2017-09-26
    Download To The Point – Reinventing the Wheel: The First 25 Album Mp3 Zip 2017-09-26
    Download Samuel Alexander Worskett – Velvet Ears: Synthetic Album Mp3 Zip 2017-09-25
    Download Various Artists – Mogendans Album Mp3 Zip 2017-09-18
    Download The Suitable Men – If the Moon Album Mp3 Zip 2017-08-01
    Download TRIPPY DOG – 광견병, Pt. 2 – EP Album Mp3 Zip 2017-04-04
    Download ‏Fandila – ‏Arde el Paraíso Album Mp3 Zip 2017-02-19
    Download Tehbis & Touchy Subject – Magnet for Your Mind – EP Album Mp3 Zip 2016-09-23
    Download Tehbis & Touchy Subject – Magnet for Your Mind – EP Album Mp3 Zip 2016-09-23
    Download Girum Gizaw – Color Album Mp3 Zip 2016-08-16
    Download Liquid Soul – Remixes EP Album Mp3 Zip 2016-08-16
    Download Uhørt – Hørslev / Mechlenburg Album Mp3 Zip 2016-08-16
    Download Sue Horowitz – Notes from the Garrison Album Mp3 Zip 2016-08-16
    Download Imee Ooi – World of Medicine Buddha Album Mp3 Zip 2016-08-16

Comments are closed.