Ahead of another historic launch: Axiom Space yesterday revealed the date on which the AX2 mission will be launched – the second private space mission in history. The mission, which will last 12 days, is planned to take off (provided there are no delays or various disruptions along the way) on May 8, 2023, around 5:40 a.m. (Israel time), and four astronauts will participate in it. The mission commander will be astronaut Peggy Whitson, the most experienced female astronaut in the American space agency (NASA).
Whitson participated in three different space missions, in which she broke, among other things, the record for spacewalks and the record for a woman’s continuous stay in space. When she flies into space, Whiston is expected to break another record – when she will become the oldest woman to ever fly into space – at the age of 63.
The mission pilot will be 65-year-old John Shoffner, a former pilot and car racing champion, and the other two team members – the mission experts – are Saudi astronauts Ali Alkarni and Rayana Barnawi. As mentioned, they are expected to be the first Saudis to visit the International Space Station, thus making Saudi Arabia the first country to have two astronauts on the station at the same time – and it is not one of its official partners.