{"id":17819,"date":"2020-01-28T00:57:46","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T16:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-clears-axiom-space-to-put-commercial-habitat-on-space-station-with-boeing-on-the-team\/"},"modified":"2020-01-28T00:57:46","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T16:57:46","slug":"nasa-clears-axiom-space-to-put-commercial-habitat-on-space-station-with-boeing-on-the-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-clears-axiom-space-to-put-commercial-habitat-on-space-station-with-boeing-on-the-team\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA clears Axiom Space to put commercial habitat on space station, with Boeing on the team"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_544652\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-544652\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-544652\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/200127-axiom2-630x355.jpg\" alt=\"Axiom Segment\" width=\"630\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/200127-axiom2-630x355.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/200127-axiom2-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/200127-axiom2.jpg 1089w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-544652\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artwork shows the Axiom Segment connected to the International Space Station. (Axiom Space Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Houston-based Axiom Space has won NASA\u2019s nod to attach a commercial habitation module to the International Space Station by as early as 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cAxiom Segment\u201d of the space station is designed to connect to the station\u2019s Harmony node and provide a crew habitat, a research and manufacturing facility and a large-windowed Earth observatory. When the International Space Station reaches retirement, Axiom plans to add a power platform and turn its hardware into a free-flying commercial space station.<\/p>\n<p>Axiom\u2019s team also include Boeing, Thales Alenia Space Italy, Intuitive Machines and Maxar Technologies.<\/p>\n<p>NASA&nbsp; said it will now begin negotiations with Axiom on the terms and price of a firm-fixed-price contract with a five-year base performance period and a two-year extension option.<\/p>\n<p>Axiom\u2019s founders are space entrepreneur Kam Ghaffarian and Michael Suffredini, who served as NASA\u2019s space station program manager from 2005 to 2015. Ghaffarian is also the founder of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, which provided engineering and training services for NASA and was acquired by KBR for $355 million in 2018. KBR has joined the Axiom team as a subcontractor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe appreciate the bold decision on the part of NASA to open up a commercial future in low Earth orbit,\u201d Suffredini, who serves as Axiom Space\u2019s CEO and president, said today in a news release. \u201cThis selection is a recognition of the uniquely qualified nature of the Axiom team and our commercial plan to create and&nbsp; support a thriving, sustainable and American-led LEO ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Axiom\u2019s commercial platform represents \u201ca critical step for NASA to meet its long-term needs for astronaut training, scientific research and technology demonstrations in low Earth orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Axiom Space's vision and services\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Wp_ntD7oP6Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The space agency said it selected Axiom from proposals that were submitted in response to a solicitation under the umbrella of NextSTEP-2\u2019s Appendix I, which offers private industry the use of the International Space Station\u2019s utilities and a port for attaching commercial facilities.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019ll be a separate opportunity for commercial partners to propose deals aimed at developing free-flying space destinations in low Earth orbit. Boeing and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture were among the companies laying out concepts for such outposts last year.<\/p>\n<p>NASA doesn\u2019t envision being the only customer for services on commercial space stations, and neither does Axiom.<\/p>\n<p>Axiom\u2019s platform could also be used for zero-G additive manufacturing, fiber optic fabrication, protein crystal production for pharmaceutical applications, or other industrial applications of the sorts that space entrepreneurs have talked about for years. And then there\u2019s space tourism: In 2018, Axiom Space laid out a plan to offer 10-day stays on its space station facilities for a price of $55 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA commercial platform in Earth orbit is an opportunity to mark a shift in our society similar to that which astronauts undergo when they see the planet from above,\u201d said Ghaffarian, who is Axiom\u2019s executive chairman.<\/p>\n<p>Axiom\u2019s plan calls for sending crewed missions to the International Space Station, and later to the free-flying orbital complex, at a rate of two or three flights per year. Shortly before the ISS is retired, perhaps in the 2030 time frame, Axiom would launch a platform to give the free-flier its own power and cooling capability.<\/p>\n<p>Axiom says it\u2019s agnostic on its choice of launch vehicles, but considering its array of partners, crewed transportation services could conceivably be provided by Boeing\u2019s CST-100 Starliner space taxis, which could be sent to orbit atop United Launch Alliance\u2019s rockets. Maxar Technologies has already been signed up to provide power and propulsion capability for NASA\u2019s moon-orbiting Gateway outpost, and there\u2019s a chance it could provide Axiom\u2019s power platform as well.<\/p>\n<p>Axiom isn\u2019t the only company aiming to create a commercial space outpost: Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace has its own grand plan for a habitation facility that could be attached to the International Space Station or operate as a standalone station.<\/p>\n<p>Texas-based Nanoracks, meanwhile, is working on a commercial air lock for the ISS as well as a concept for free-flying orbital outposts. Nanoracks\u2019 partners in the outpost effort include Seattle-based Olis Robotics and Stratolaunch.<\/p>\n<p>Today Nanoracks CEO Jeffrey Manber offered his congratulations to Axiom \u2014 and said he was looking forward to future business opportunities. \u201cEager to see NASA offering on free-flyer, which is overdue,\u201d Manber tweeted.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Update for 10:40 a.m. PT Jan. 28:<\/strong> We\u2019ve corrected a reference to the corporate relationships involving Axiom, Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies and KBR.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Artwork shows the Axiom Segment connected to the International Space Station. (Axiom Space Illustration) Houston-based Axiom Space has won NASA\u2019s nod to attach a commercial habitation module to the International Space Station by as early as 2024. The \u201cAxiom Segment\u201d of the space station is designed to connect to the station\u2019s Harmony node and provide [&hellip;]<\/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":[4384,291,717],"class_list":["post-17819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-axiom","tag-commercial-space","tag-international-space-station"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17819"}],"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=17819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}