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This is yet another first for SpaceX. A rocket from Elon Musk’s company will launch the first fully private crew to the ISS on Friday. Members of the Axiom 1 mission will spend ten days in space.
The space agencies, NASA in the lead, have never hidden it: after having cleared the low orbit of the Earth with the International Space Station (ISS)they would leave room for the private sector to focus on more distant exploration.
The first step in this direction takes place this Friday with the takeoff of the Axiom-1 mission, on board of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Axiom is the name of a company that sells space tickets at around $50 million each. They are four to have offered the trip.
Privatization of the ISS
American Michael Lopez Alegria is the mission commander. A former NASA astronaut, he obviously missed space. Along with him will be another American, investor Larry Connor, Canadian Mark Pathy and Israeli philanthropist Eytan Stibbe.
All four will spend eight days aboard the ISS. They will have about twenty scientific experiments to carry out, but also activities presented as commercial.
This first Axiom mission will be followed by a second next year, before the putting into orbit in 2024 of an Axiom module, a kind of space hotel which will be connected to the station. Yet another step towards the eventual privatization of the ISS pending the disengagement of public agencies which will then concentrate on the exploration of the Moon.
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