SpaceX launches 3 Axion space company visitors to the NASA space station. The arrangement is such that the private Axion Space company arranges the visit with NASA and SpaceX. The three paying customers are- Mark Pathy, founder and CEO of Montreal’s Mavrik Corp.; Israels Eytan Stibbe, a former fighter pilot and founding partner of Vital Capital; and Larry Connor of Dayton, Ohio, who runs the Connor Group.
This launch is SpaceX’s first private charter flight to the orbiting lab after two years of carrying astronauts there for NASA. After they arrive at the space station Saturday will be an American, Canadian, and Israeli who run investment, real estate, and other companies. The visitors will be paying $55 million apiece for the rocket ride and accommodations, all meals included. Russia has been hosting tourists at the space station and before that the Mir station for decades. Just last fall, a Russian movie crew flew up, followed by a Japanese fashion tycoon and his assistant. NASA is finally getting into the act, after years of opposing space station visitors.
Their tickets include access to all but the Russian portion of the space station they’ll need permission from the three cosmonauts on board. Three Americans and a German also live up there.
SpaceX and NASA
SpaceX and NASA have been upfront with them about the risks of spaceflight, said Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months at the space station 15 years ago. “There’s no fuzz, I think, on what the dangers are or what the bad days could look like,” Lopez-Alegria told The Associated Press before the flight. NASA’s Kathy Lueders, head of space operations, said there’s a lot to learn from this first wholly private station visit. “But man, was this launch a great start,” she told reporters.
Each visitor has a full slate of experiments to conduct during their stay, one reason they don’t like to be called space tourists. “They’re not up there to paste their nose on the window,” said Axiom’s co-founder and president, Michael Suffredini, a former NASA space station program manager.
The three businessmen are the latest to take advantage of the opening of space to those with deep pockets. Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin is taking customers on 10-minute rides to the edge of space, while Virgin Galactic expects to start flying customers on its rocket ship later this year. Friday‘s flight is the second private charter for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which took a billionaire and his guests on a three-day orbit ride last year. SpaceX’s fifth flight of NASA astronauts to the station is coming up in just a couple of weeks.
