NASA is getting ready to launch its first-ever space tourism mission to the International Space Station.
Liftoff for the US space agency’s mission is currently scheduled for April 3, according to a new report by Digital Trends.
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The privately-crewed project, dubbed Ax-1, is being organized by Texas-based Axiom Space.
Ax-1 will launch from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and travel for about a day to the ISS, around 250 miles above Earth’s atmosphere.
For the trip, Nasa is using SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9, the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket.
Flying onboard the aeronautical craft is Canadian investor Mark Pathy, American entrepreneur Larry Connor, former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe, and mission commander Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut.
Pathy, Connor, and Stibbe reportedly paid around $55 million each to be a part of the historic mission.
The four members will be spending eight days on the ISS “conducting scientific research, outreach, and commercial activities,” Nasa said in a recent press release.
Hundreds of hours were spent preparing the crew for the upcoming launch, according to Axiom Space.
The training specifically focused on safety, health, ISS systems, and emergency procedures.
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Axiom and Nasa also test drove the Dragon spacecraft ahead of the mission.
“Prelaunch activities are progressing. Yesterday, the #Ax1 crew completed test drive – also known as the Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT) –in the Dragon spacecraft they’ll fly aboard to and from the @Space_Station,” Axiom tweeted on March 18.
Ax-1 is a groundbreaking mission for Axiom Space, which has plans to deploy its own commercial space station in 2031, Digital Trends reported.
That’s just one year after Nasa wants to retire the ISS by crashing it into the Earth’s ocean at Point Nemo – a spot far from land known as “the space cemetery”.
The US space agency hopes to become a customer of private space stations rather than running its own to allow them to both save money and focus more on other projects.
In order to meet this goal, Nasa granted funding to three companies last year to design and develop low-Earth orbit stations, including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman.
Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson said that the agency is, “partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling Nasa to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity while fostering commercial activity in space.”
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