Axiom Space’s second private crewed mission to the International Space Station is now scheduled to launch in just ten days, with the crew of four preparing to perform more than twenty scientific experiments in space.
The Ax-2 mission will now launch no earlier than 5:37 p.m. EST on May 21 from SpaceX Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The crew will travel to the station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule, where they will stay for approximately 10 days. This will mark the second fully private crew to visit the ISS; the first mission, also operated by Axiom Space, took place in April 2022.
The crew includes Peggy Whitson, mission commander and director of human spaceflight for Axiom; John Shoffner, the pilot; Ali Alqarni, mission specialist; and Rayyanah Barnawi, also a missions specialist. Alqarni and Barnawi are members of Saudi Arabia’s first class of astronauts and will be the first people from that country to visit the ISS. Shoffner, an Axiom investor, is the only paying customer on the team.
All four of them will participate in a ton of scientific research while aboard the station. The more than 20 payloads that will travel with the crew, spanning life science, biomedical and technology demonstrations, are sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory. Experiments include examining the impact of microgravity on stem cell production, studies on bioengineered human tissue, and a project that will help advance the detection of a cancer treatment on Earth. The crew will also undergo a series of tests to better understand the impact of spaceflight and microgravity on the body.
The private human spaceflight mission is just one part of Axiom’s plan. The company is also among a growing crowd of players looking to operate a private space station. His plan is to connect modules to the ISS and then operate these modules as a free flight station after the ISS is decommissioned in 2030. The launch of the first module is scheduled for 2025.
Axiom also announced last month that it signed an agreement to establish a joint venture with one of its investors: Korean pharmaceutical company Boryung, which provided $50 million in capital last December. The JV was announced last month.
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