{"id":10592,"date":"2022-04-07T17:54:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T09:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-ready-for-launch-of-first-all-commercial-crew-to-space-station\/"},"modified":"2022-04-07T17:54:36","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T09:54:36","slug":"spacex-ready-for-launch-of-first-all-commercial-crew-to-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-ready-for-launch-of-first-all-commercial-crew-to-space-station\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX ready for launch of first all-commercial crew to space station"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mark Pathy, Larry Connor, Mike Lopez-Alegria, and Eytan Stibbe at launch pad 39A during a dress rehearsal for launch of Axiom\u2019s Ax-1 mission. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX and a Houston company are gearing up to launch four private citizens Friday on the first NASA-sanctioned, fully commercial flight to the International Space Station, a key step in a government push to encourage private-sector development on the high frontier.<\/p>\n

Mission commander Michael L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda, a former NASA astronaut and now a vice president with Houston-based Axiom Space, along with entrepreneur-philanthropists Larry Connor, Canadian Mark Pathy and Israeli Eytan Stibbe plan to blast off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:17 a.m. EDT Friday.<\/p>\n

Forecasters predicted an 80 percent chance of acceptable launch-site weather, but SpaceX said it was monitoring conditions along the Falcon 9\u2019s northeasterly trajectory where the crew could be forced to ditch in a launch emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll systems are looking good for tomorrow\u2019s Falcon 9 launch of the @Axiom_Space Ax-1 mission to the @space_station,\u201d SpaceX tweeted. \u201cTeams are keeping an eye on downrange weather along the ascent corridor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Axiom 1 mission, or Ax-1 for short, will mark the sixth piloted launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, the second fully commercial flight to orbit after the privately financed Inspiration4 mission last September and the first all-commercial visit to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

While 11 private astronauts, or \u201cspace tourists,\u201d have visited the space station over the past two decades under commercial arrangements with the Russian space agency, they were all accompanied by professional cosmonauts. The Ax-1 crew is the first all-commercial non-government flight to the station and the first sanctioned by NASA.<\/p>\n

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SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft on top of a Falcon 9 rocket on Launch Complex 39A. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Opening the space station to commercial use is part of a push by NASA to facilitate private-sector operations in low-Earth orbit and to encourage development of commercially operated research stations after the ISS is retired in the 2030 timeframe.<\/p>\n

So far, Axiom Space has booked three private astronaut missions through SpaceX and is designing modules that will be attached to the station for commercial use. Before the lab is retired, a solar power and cooling system will be added so the Axiom modules can be disconnected to fly on their own as an independent outpost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a historic mission for two reasons,\u201d said Axiom CEO Mike Suffredini, a former NASA space station program manager. \u201cThis is the first completely private mission to the International Space Station. In addition to that, Axiom Space was founded to build a commercial space station, the first module will launch in a little over two years from now.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is our very first mission of probably hundreds of missions to come over the next several decades as we build the Axiom space station and provide services in low-Earth orbit for many decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assuming an on-time takeoff, L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda and Connor, a veteran private pilot, will monitor an automated 20-hour rendezvous and approach to the space station, moving in for docking at the forward Harmony module\u2019s space-facing port around 7:45 a.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

Standing by to welcome them aboard will be station commander Thomas Marshburn, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron and German astronaut Matthias Maurer, launched aboard a Crew Dragon last November. Also on hand: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Medveev and Sergey Korsakov, who arrived at the lab last month aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.<\/p>\n

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The official patch for the Ax-1 mission. Credit: Axiom Space<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda is a veteran of four space flights, including a long-duration stay on the station, logging a cumulative 257 days off planet before retiring from NASA in 2012. He received refresher training for the Ax-1 mission and serves as a mentor to his rookie crewmates.<\/p>\n

Connor is a \u201cnon-profit activist investor\u201d and founder of the Connor Group, a real estate investment firm managing $3.5 billion in assets. He is an acrobatic pilot, off-road racer and mountaineer. Pathy is an investor\/philanthropist, chairman and CEO of a Montreal-based investment and finance company.<\/p>\n

Stibbe flew F-16 jets in the Israeli air force, later serving in the reserves while building a successful business career. During active duty, he served under Ilan Ramon, who lost his life in the Columbia shuttle disaster after becoming the first Israeli in space.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good friend, he was my commander in the squadron and I had the opportunity to visit him during his training in Houston,\u201d Stibbe said. \u201cSince then, we stayed in a very close relationship with his wife, with the children, and I will take with me \u2026 a copy of the diary that survived that crash, the diary that Ilan wrote on board Columbia during the spaceflight.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the pages survived the crash. I will take copies of these pages with me. I\u2019ll take a song written by his son and a beautiful painting by his daughter of pages falling out of the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Axiom-1 crew plans to spend a little more than a week aboard the lab complex carrying out a variety of commercially-sponsored bio-medical experiments, technology demonstrations and outreach before undocking and returning to Earth with splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, depending on the weather.<\/p>\n

The cost of the Ax-1 mission is not known. SpaceX advertises the price of a Falcon 9 rocket at around $60 million, but that doesn\u2019t include the use of a Crew Dragon capsule, crew training and the around-the-clock support required for a human spaceflight. NASA\u2019s inspector general has estimated the average cost of a Crew Dragon seat at around $55 million.<\/p>\n

Axiom Space paid for the Ax-1 flight, covering the cost of L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda\u2019s seat. His crewmates, or their representatives, purchased their \u201ctickets\u201d from Axiom. The company also bought NASA-mandated insurance and hired a private contractor, Operator Solutions of Melbourne, Florida, to provide rescue services in case of a launch abort.<\/p>\n

For Crew Dragon flights carrying NASA astronauts, the space agency relies on the Department of Defense and personnel with Detachment 3, a unit within the 45th Space Delta at Patrick Space Force Base, to orchestrate a global response and rescue of astronauts aboard a downed spacecraft.<\/p>\n

That option is not available for non-government missions. Instead, Operator Solutions, using veteran military and civilian rescue personnel, will provide emergency response support for the Ax-1 crew along the ship\u2019s trajectory up the East Coast of the United States during the climb to orbit.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Ax-1 pilot Larry Connor, commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Mark Pathy, and Evan Stibbe during a test with SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because of the high cost of spaceflight, civilian fliers, or space tourists, are typically millionaires or even billionaires who can afford to indulge in pursuits that are far beyond the reach of the average person. But L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda said his crew, and their research-loaded mission, so not fit the standard space tourist profile.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a place for space tourism, it\u2019s just that\u2019s not what this mission is about,\u201d he said in an interview with CBS News. \u201cThis is something that is the full monty, the full experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connor agreed, telling reporters \u201cwe\u2019ve spent anywhere from 750 to over 1,000 hours training. Additionally, across all of the astronauts here, we\u2019re going to do some 25 different experiments encompassing over 100 hours of research (while) we are on the ISS.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I speak for all of us that we understand this first civilian mission (is) a big honor and a big opportunity. But with that comes a big responsibility, and that is to execute the mission correctly and successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

But they\u2019ll no doubt do a bit of sightseeing amid their research and enjoy meals prepared by celebrity chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9as, a friend of Madrid-native L\u00f3pez-Alegr\u00eda.<\/p>\n

For their first meal in space, the Ax-1 crew \u201cwill enjoy Arroz Estelle Valencia, a classic Spanish rice dish,\u201d Axiom Space said in a release. \u201cLater in the mission, the crew will eat Secreto de Cerdo with Pisto, a prized cut of Ib\u00e9rico Pork with tomatoes, onions, eggplant, and peppers, and Chicken and Mushroom Paella, Spain\u2019s quintessential rice dish.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Mark Pathy, Larry Connor, Mike Lopez-Alegria, and Eytan Stibbe at launch pad 39A during a dress rehearsal for launch of Axiom\u2019s Ax-1 mission. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX and a Houston company are gearing up to launch four private citizens Friday on the first NASA-sanctioned, fully commercial flight to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10592"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10592\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}