A retired Israeli Air Force pilot, a Canadian shareholder, and an American real estate businessman paid $55 million to fly to the International Space Station as part of the first entirely private astronaut team. Early next year, the trio would hit the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with a senior NASA astronaut as the captain.
Arranged by Houston, Texas-based space tourism firm Axiom Space, the Ax-1 launch is a watershed moment for the space sector as firms are racing to make space exploration more affordable to ordinary people. In the past, private people have trekked to the space station, but the Ax-1 flight marks the first to utilize a privately designed astronaut capsule: the Dragon crew of SpaceX, which last year took the first two crews to the ISS.
Who are all these rich guys?
Global News CA wrote that Larry Connor, a real estate and technology developer from Dayton, Ohio, has earned bids and payments for Axiom Space initiative. He is followed by Canadian specialist financier Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, who is also known for his strong relationship with the late Ilan Ramon, the first astronaut in Israel.
Apart from their science studies, these persons will be carrying out educational outreach in space, which is said to be a contributing factor to their populations' growth, says Mike Suffredini, chief executive and president . The director of Axiom is also regarded as the former program manager of NASA's International Space Station.
Lopez-Alegria names the squad as the 'Set of Explorers' as they will break that record as the first private crew to travel to the International Space Station . While the rumored ISS trip of Tom Cruise with Doug Liman to shoot a film is still planned, Axiom Space's task in 2022 will be to make history and begin commercial flights.
Axiom Space-SpaceX Deal: 2022 Launch of the First Three Private Crew
Associated Press reported that Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired NASA astronaut renowned for his numerous flights and journeys to the ISS, has been named by Axiom Space to captain the ship's private team. The flight explained that these three persons needed a new adventure, and space was their preferred destination.
Private space firms have since switched from developing satellites and robotic space flights to opening up their private space program to everyone who can afford space's demanding requirements and take it up. The first private crew of Axiom Space would be staying eight days at the ISS and doing experimental studies on their own.
They will use the four-person SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, one for its captain astronaut and the other three private crew travelers. Next January, the SpaceX rocket and the Axiom Space mission will abandon Cape Canaveral.
As part of a larger drive to promote commercial opportunities in space, NASA revised its policy in 2019 to enable private astronaut flights to the ISS. Previously, the department had resisted private trips to the ISS on US spacecraft. Seven private people traveled onboard Russia's Soyuz vehicles to the station as rich visitors on different missions in the early 2000s.
How Much Do We Need For a Private ISS Stay?
According to NASA's 2019 announcement per Business Insider, private stays at the space station would have a hefty price tag. Using the life support systems and the toilet would cost $11,250 per astronaut per day, $22,500 per day for all required crew equipment, and $42 per kilowatt per hour for fuel. That is a nightly rate of around $35,000 per human, which corresponds to $1.1 million for an eight-night stay for the four crew members on the Ax-1 mission, including Commander López-Alegría.
In the $55 million prices the private astronauts are now charged, Axiom states, certain nightly expenses are included. Any and all required expenses are part of the ticket price for Axiom.
Updates from Space Tourism
Early last year, the Ax-1 mission was revealed. It is SpaceX's second space tourism effort. It is still partnering with the Space Adventures space tourism firm to take up to four private people into orbit around the Planet sometime in 2022.
A surge of excitement from the ultra-wealthy and developers has fuelled space tourism in recent years as an increasing sector of space firms demonstrate hardware and scale up uncrewed research flights in and around space.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, now the world's wealthiest individual, has made normalizing space exploration. Colonizing Mars remains SpaceX's highest priority.
The Virgin Galactic of billionaire businessman Richard Branson also became the first publicly listed space travel firm in 2019.
And with its vertically deployed Latest Shepard spacecraft, billionaire Amazon owner Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin will soon be selling identical suborbital experiences.
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