SpaceX poised to send first private crew to the International Space Station for Axiom Space

Unlike most of the company's passenger flights, this new crop of flyers won't include any current NASA astronauts. Four people are flying with a company called Axiom Space. It will be the first time a completely private crew has visited the space station.

A new type of human spaceflight mission comes with a hefty price tag for its participants. Three of the four flyers paid a reported $55 million for their seats on the Crew Dragon. Canadian investor Mark Pathy, American real estate investor Larry Connor, and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe are new to spacefaring. The commander of the trip is a spaceflight veteran who has flown four missions to space and is a vice president of Axiom.

Their mission, called Ax-1, is the latest in an emerging trend of completely private astronauts flights. Human spaceflight missions were almost always conducted by government-run space programs. The commercial space industry has leaped forward over the last few decades. The leader of the pack is SpaceX, which has proven it can safely send people to and from low Earth on its Crew Dragon. The company has begun conducting civilian crew flights without NASA's approval, and has started flexing its muscles.

These flights are going to become more common. The company has arranged for three more private crew missions to the International Space Station in order to get ready for the creation of its first station. The company wants to make space more accessible to everyone.

This is the first step where a bunch of individuals who aren't members of a government are able to take this opportunity. Individuals will need a fat wallet until costs come down.

A new paradigm

The Crew Dragon is the new phase of operation for the company. The Crew Dragon was developed for NASA to ferry their astronauts to and from the International Space Station. After more than six years of development, the Crew Dragon was successfully launched in May 2020 with two NASA astronauts on board.

The ultimate goal for NASA was to let the private sector take care of transportation to the International Space Station, but a secondary goal was for the private sector to eventually use the capsule to conduct crewed missions of its own. The protocols and technology it developed for NASA to build an entirely separate commercial business for human spaceflight is exactly what SpaceX is doing with the Axiom missions.

Image: SpaceX

There was a big policy change at NASA after the Crew Dragon development. The facilities on the International Space Station will be open to more commercial opportunities and private astronauts in order to encourage them to visit the US. Wealthy space tourists have visited the station before, but the activities used to be discouraged. The station's facilities could be used for commercial activities, such as shooting movies or advertisements, if people booked a flight to the station on a US spaceship.

If you were using the fancy amenities at a hotel, the cost would be the same. NASA planned to charge $11,250 per day to use the station's life support system and toilet. It would cost $22,500 per day to provide food, medical supplies, and exercise equipment to a person.

With all of the changes, Axiom saw an opportunity. Currently, the company is working to build its first commercial space station, called Axiom Station, with plans to eventually attach the first module of the outpost to the International Space Station as early as 2024. They plan to break away and create their own free-flying station after testing out the module on the International Space Station. To prepare for this big step, Axiom turned to SpaceX to conduct a series of pre-missions to the International Space Station, essentially a series of dress rehearsals for when it will send people to its own space station one day.

This mission is important because we are going to be communicating with the ground in space and we are also developing all the procedures. The commander of the next mission will be Whitson.

Ax-1 to orbit

A number of wealthy private flyers will pay their way to space with the Ax-1 crew. Spacefarers who have already visited the station can now purchase tickets for rides on suborbital vehicles operated by companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which will allow them to spend a few minutes at the edge of space.

The Ax-1 mission will be much larger than those missions. Depending on our role, we have spent anywhere from 750 to over 1,000 hours training.

A private crew was sent into space by a private company last year and spent three days inside a Crew Dragon, where they conducted a few experiments. A whole suite of space experiments will be planned by the crew of the station. A total of 25 different science experiments will be conducted by the four flyers, which will take about 100 hours to complete. The experiments include a two-way 3D hologram demonstration using a Microsoft HoloLens.

The Ax-1 astronauts will mostly be living and working in the US portion of the station, though they will be invited to enter the Russian portion by the cosmonauts on board. Russia and the United States work together to keep the International Space Station running. There are three Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station, three NASA astronauts, and one Germanastronomy with the European Space Agency.

Image: NASA

The amount of money that will be paid to NASA for use of the ISS is not known. He said that NASA may get some costs knocked off in return for their services.

The space station's funding and who is onboard is still something of a watershed moment.

To participate, that audience needs to have about $55 million to spare. It's still a relatively small pool to choose from, even though Axiom may be opening up space to more flyers.