Stephen Clark/Ars Technica
This is the third time an all-civilian crew has flown to the International Space Station. The four-person team took off Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to begin a 36-hour pursuit of the orbiting laboratory. Docking is scheduled for Saturday morning.
The two-week mission, managed by Houston-based Axiom Space, is aimed at providing commercial access to the ISS as a stepping stone to building a fully commercial space station in low-Earth orbit by the end of this decade. An astronaut mission is being carried out.
Axiom’s third mission, called Ax-3, launched Thursday at 4:49 pm ET (21:49 UTC). The four astronauts were strapped into seats inside SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. This is the 12th time SpaceX has launched a human spaceflight mission and could be the first of five Dragon crew missions this year.
Falcon 9 steered northeast from Kennedy Space Center, following the trajectory of the International Space Station. After hurtling through cloud cover, the rocket’s reusable first stage separated two and a half minutes after liftoff and began its descent back to Cape Canaveral for landing. The upper stage ignited a single engine and carried the Dragon capsule into orbit.
no retirement party
In a statement radioed to the ground shortly after launch, Ax-3 commander Michael López-Alegría described the feeling of launch as “acceleration, a little bit of vibration, just the feeling of going fast. Wow, what?” It must be a thrill!” ”
López-Alegría is a Spanish-born astronaut and U.S. Navy veteran. He is one of the most experienced astronauts in history, and Ax-3 will be his sixth spaceflight. López Alegría, 65, retired from NASA in 2012 after four space shuttle missions. He joined Axiom in 2017 after working as a consultant and commercial spaceflight advocate and led the company’s first commercial astronaut flight in 2022.
So why continue a grueling training schedule at this age, when many commercial airline pilots are forced to retire?
“It never gets old,” López Alegría said at a pre-launch press conference. “I think every time you get closer to launch, you just get more grateful…When you go for the first time, you’re just hanging on for dear life and enjoying the ride. But especially when… , I think you’ll come to appreciate each launch more.”I’m happy to continue doing so because you can see how rare and an opportunity it is. ”
He alternates command of the Axiom mission with fellow astronaut Peggy Whitson, who also retired from NASA.
“Axiom definitely wants to continue doing commercial astronaut missions. There will probably be other commanders in the future, but as long as they ask me to fly, my hand will be raised. ” López-Alegría said. He is the first astronaut to fly twice on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.
“I think you’re demonstrating the ultimate in reuse. A repurposed Commander, a repurposed Dragon, and a repurposed Falcon, or maybe a better term would be, “flying experience.” joked SpaceX executive Bill Gerstenmeyer, chief engineer for Thursday’s launch. .
Pilot Walter Villaday sat to López-Alegría’s right side during the ascent to orbit. He is a colonel in the Italian Air Force. Turkey’s first astronaut, Alper Gezeravcı, and Swedish test pilot Markus Vandt round out the Ax-3 crew. They will temporarily join the space station’s long-term residents, including four crew members who flew to the space station on Dragon in August to begin a six-month stay.
corner the government market
Villadei, Gezeravcu, and Vanto are flying to the space station under a contract between governments and Axiom. All astronauts and military personnel will conduct scientific experiments developed by their own researchers and participate in educational and support activities from orbit.
More than 30 research investigations are being conducted on Ax-3, ranging from biophysics experiments examining how microgravity affects the human body to technology demonstrations and earth sciences. For example, the Italian Air Force developed a software tool to test on Ax-3 to provide space debris and space weather warnings to the space station. Turkey is conducting experiments in the fields of genetics and metallurgy. Sweden and the European Space Agency are sponsoring experiments in brain research, remote control and AI, and stem cells.
![Michael López-Alegría, Alper Gezerafcz, Marcus Want, and Walter Villaday pose inside SpaceX's crew access arm at Launch Complex 39A in Florida.](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/GEADEwvWwAAmoSR-640x427.jpeg)
space x
But intertwined with these scientific goals is an unmistakable element of national pride.
Although Villaday flies under the Italian flag through an agreement between the Italian government and Axiom, many Italian astronauts have historically flown under the umbrella of the European Space Agency. He previously soared into space on a suborbital flight on a Virgin Galactic spaceplane and recorded several minutes of microgravity. He was one of three Italian Air Force personnel on board the Virgin Galactic flight last June.
“This mission is very important for Italy,” Villaday said. “This is a fundamental step in our national space strategy.”
Gezeravci’s flight is historic in the sense that he is the first Turkish citizen to travel into space. “We have been waiting a long time for this mission to become a reality,” he said. “It is truly an honor to take on this role in this mission and make it happen.”
The Wandt mission was made possible by an agreement between ESA and the Swedish National Space Agency. ESA subsequently finalized an agreement with Axiom to secure Wandt’s seat in Ax-3.
This is a first for ESA as Mr. Want joins the crew. This is the first time the space agency has put astronauts into orbit with a commercial company, rather than through an intergovernmental agreement with the United States or Russia. He was one of 17 astronauts selected by ESA in 2022, but he joined the agency as a reserve astronaut and worked as a test pilot at Saab Aeronautics before being selected for a space mission. will continue his career.
He didn’t have to wait long. “This additional flight came up and Sweden was very decisive on this, working quickly with industry, the military and government, working with ESA and working with Axiom to make this happen,” Wandt said. .
ESA has six active astronauts with spaceflight experience, plus five new astronauts and 12 reserve astronauts selected in 2022. Commercial flight opportunities like this one with Axiom will give more Europeans access to space. An ESA reserve astronaut from Poland could be launched on an Axiom mission later this year.
“We have an astronaut corps that is central to our activities in human spaceflight,” Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA’s director of human and robotic exploration, said in an interview with Ars on Thursday. “But we also selected these reservists. This is a kind of talent pool where we can seize the best opportunities. This allows us to do more activities in human spaceflight. You can do.”
Axiom does not release prices for seats for missions to the space station, but they have reportedly cost about $55 million in the past. Swedish media reported last year Sweden has increased its investment in ESA by more than 400 million Swedish kronor, or $38 million at current exchange rates, to enable Vandt’s spaceflight opportunities.
Axiom officials see government-sponsored astronaut flights as a lucrative market. It differs from the traditional image of wealthy space travelers who fly into orbit at their own expense. Of course, there are elements of that in Axiom’s business as well. Axiom’s first mission in 2022 will fly three private astronauts who paid their own expenses, and Ax-2 last year will fly Axiom’s commander, a U.S. businessman, and a government-backed mission. A mixed crew of two Saudi astronauts flew the spacecraft.
NASA also supports these commercial astronaut missions. The U.S. space agency opened the International Space Station to civilian visitors flying commercial missions only in 2019. This is the cornerstone of NASA’s strategy to foster a commercial market for human spaceflight in low Earth orbit, with the goal of ultimately building a business. In some cases, a privately owned space station will replace the ISS after it is scheduled to retire in 2030.