SpaceX successfully launches first all-private crew en route to space station for Axiom Space

Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky

A group of three customers who have reportedly paid millions for their seats are included in a new crew of four astronauts that was successfully launched by the company this morning. The four private flyers are on their way to the International Space Station after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Falcon 9 rocket.

They will be the first private crew of astronauts to live and work on the space station. A total of 25 science experiments will be conducted by the crew over the course of 100 hours.

The first in a series of four missions will be conducted in partnership with SpaceX. The long-term goal of the company is to build a fleet of commercial space stations. The first module of Axiom Station will be attached to the International Space Station as early as 2024. The following missions are meant to help establish all of the protocols and procedures for conducting human spaceflight missions to its own platform when it is ready.

The founder and managing partner of real estate investment firm TheConnor Group is on the plane with Mark Pathy, CEO of investment and financing company MAVRIK, and Eytan Stibbe, a former Israeli Air Force pilot. Michael López-Alegría is their commander. The crew has spent between 750 and 1,000 hours training for this mission, according to the company.

William Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, told the crew that they had made it to the space station. Do some research for us. We will see you back here on the ground.

It was a great ride, and we are looking forward to the next 10 days.

Image: Axiom Space

When the crew was first announced, media reports noted that the astronauts had paid $55 million to secure their seats on the Crew Dragon, which is a record for SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA SALVAGEDATA The space agency NASA is being paid an undisclosed sum by the company to use their facilities on the International Space Station. NASA opened the US portion of the International Space Station to more commercial activities in 2019. The cost of using the life support systems and toilets was announced by NASA.

The Russian portion of the International Space Station will be visited by the crew on an invitation from the three cosmonauts on board. Two of the visitors will sleep in the Columbus module, one will sleep inside the Crew Dragon docked at the ISS, and the other will sleep in an airlock.

The Ax-1 astronauts did not receive the same level of training as NASA astronauts, but they did learn how to use the food galley and how to wash their hands. Emergency response training was learned by the Ax-1 team. The wealthy fliers are still considered guests, though if the toilet breaks when they are on board, the astronauts won't be responsible for fixing it.

Once their mission is over, the crew of the Crew Dragon will leave the station, and then splash down off the coast of Florida. NASA will send three agency astronauts and a European partner to the International Space Station on April 21st, with the help of a new launch from the company called Crew-4. The crew of the Crew 3 mission, who have been on the International Space Station since November, will be coming home.

It is a busy time for the International Space Station, and it may continue to be so as more private missions visit the station in the future.