It is intended to be a historic turning point in the conquest of space by man. The Ax-1 mission which leaves at the end of the afternoon in the direction of the International Space Station (ISS) will be the first 100% private, that is to say without a professional on board and totally managed by companies in the New Space, unrelated to the US state. That is to say on the one hand Axiom Space, the organizer of this trip to the firmament and on the other, the now famous SpaceX whose recoverable launcher Falcon 9 will ensure the trip. And yet. However and after two postponements (March 30, then April 3) Ax-1 which must take off very exactly this Friday at 5:17 p.m., Paris time, from the PA 39A launch pad at the Kennedy Space center in Florida (United States) , is not a tourist ride. First of all, nothing to do with the “chip-hopping” offered by competing companies Blue Origin and its New Glenn rocket and Virgin Galactic with its SpaceShip ship, which were both the first to open the era of space tourism in 2021 but in proposing to “climb” just 100 kilometers above sea level to see the curvature of the Earth and enjoy a few minutes in weightlessness.
A seasoned crew
There, with Axiom Space, the bar is higher since it is a question of reaching the ISS located in orbit at an altitude of 400 kilometers for a stay lasting 10 days. Then, even if this historic flight is intended to be 100% private, it leaves from a base – therefore infrastructure -, governmental of the American Space Agency (Nasa). Finally, make no mistake about it, the members of the Ax-1 crew have nothing of a merry band of amateurs: the captain is called Michael Lopez-Alegria who is none other than the vice- president of Axiom Space and who, although he is no longer part of NASA, remains one of the most experienced astronauts. During his career, he spent 258 days aboard the ISS, made 3 flights on the space shuttle and still holds the record for spacewalks (called “extra-vehicular”), exactly 10! Difficult therefore to make it a “space tourist”. He will be accompanied by three other businessmen who, for once, will make their first interstellar road trip but who, for all that, are not beginners. Larry Connor who part with the function of “pilot” of the Crew Dragon (which is nevertheless an automatic vessel) is a real aerobatic pilot, with to his credit five won competitions and regular participation in the American championship. “a partridge who would make a first loop! Ditto for the third acolyte, Eytan Stibbe who was nothing less than a fighter pilot in the Israeli army. There remains the Canadian businessman Mark Pathy, the least experienced of all, but who qualified as a “mission expert”. cun mostly paid $55 million for its seat.
More than one day of travel
Unlike the real tourists who boarded the Virgin and Blue Origin machines for 5 minutes of weightlessness and had almost zero preparation, the men of the Xx-1 expedition underwent real training by accumulating nearly a thousand hours of preparation. Tonight, if all goes well – the weather conditions are 80% favorable – the crew of Ax-1 will take off using a Falcon 9 launcher and should take 28 hours of travel for the Crew Dragon to come to dock. to the American part (named “Harmony”) of the International Space Station. Officially and to make these 165 million spent by three billionaires more “acceptable” (Michael Lopez-Alegria did not have to pay for his seat), must bring equipment and food on board the ISS for the team present – three Russians, three Americans, one German. Similarly, the Ax-1 mission is adorned with a scientific objective since the four tourists must carry out experiments on the brain, the cardiac system, cancer and, on the materials side, test ceramic tiles. A total of 25 experiments should occupy them for 100 hours of their precious time.
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Space agencies want to disengage from the ISS
For twenty years, this is not the first time that civilians have gone on board the ISS. In 2001, the entrepreneur Dennis Tito had paved the way. Fifteen others followed him. Among them, in October 2021, the most publicized mission: 13 days in orbit for director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild during which they shot the sequences of a science fiction film. On the other hand, bad luck, the members of the Ax-1 mission, even if they are not ordinary space tourists but seasoned individuals, will not have (always with the exception of Michael Lopez-Alegria who already have) not the official title of “astronaut” under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations because they are not part of a government establishment. A point of detail that could evolve rapidly with the proliferation of tourist flights. Because this first private commercial voyage, undeniably opens the way to a future occupation of the ISS thanks to private capital, a first condition to make it last until 2030. The various government agencies, the American NASA but also the Russian Roscomos, especially with the conflict in Ukraine, no longer hide their desire to disinvest from the orbital complex which has been occupied without interruption since 2000! Axiom Space has already signed on for three other similar missions over the next two years with SpaceX.
Private station projects
The small company has even been officially commissioned by NASA to develop this commercial branch of the ISS in order to ensure its best exploitation. The Americans who want to concentrate on other objectives, in this case the Moon (Artemis program), are aiming to develop a real economy in low orbit – in particular so as not to leave the latter to China alone, which has its own station. spatial. For the future, Axiom Space now stands out as the preferred partner. The company has announced that it is developing its own space suits; it has also raised 130 million dollars to create its own independent station which will initially be attached to the ISS: it has commissioned Thales Alenia Space to build the first two modules, namely a junction node (Node) and one residential.
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With the aim of multiplying them to have an autonomous infrastructure and to separate definitively from the ISS within ten years. Among the latter, Axiom Space recently announced that it is working on an “entertainment studio” module. It will be used to shoot television programs “live from space”, sporting events (probably still to be invented), even music shows. Without forgetting also, of course, filming. Tom Cruise dreamed of being the first to do so, he got his hair done on the pole in October 2021. Just as he was originally to be part of a first crew from Axiom Space. From now on, if the latter installs a recording studio for him, the star actor of Mission impossible, a fan of stunts of all kinds, will have a hard time slipping away.
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