SpaceX’s Ax-1 cruise has arrived safely for ISS

Space – Successful docking and arrival of SpaceX. Carrying the Crew Dragon Capsule of the American Company Complete individual first team Arrived International Space Station This Saturday, April 9. Filmed the historic event SpaceX. After several processes, the crew was able to enter the ISS You can see it in our video at the top of the article.

They were greeted with hugs and camera flashes from ISS team members.

The rocket took off from Florida at 5:12 pm Paris time on Friday, April 8th. “We can’t wait to see what’s left for us, thanks to this excellent work,” said American Larry Connor, who heads a real estate company, but also serves as the pilot for this work. 1.

Were also in the capsule Merchants Israeli Aidan Stebe and Canadian Mark Pathi. The only professional American-Spanish Michael Lopez-Allegri on the team who already knew the ISS. He is a former NASA astronaut, now employed by Axiom. The latter arranged the voyage, purchased transport equipment from SpaceX, and paid NASA to use its station and train passengers.

They all paid tens of millions of dollars each to stay on the ISS for a week. They join the other seven members already in office: three NASA astronauts, one German astronaut and three astronauts. Russians.

Newcomers have already visited the space station (ISS), especially in the 2000s, last year when Russia sent a crew there, then a Japanese billionaire. But these were flown with astronauts on Soyuz rockets.

A mission is not just tourism

“We are expanding the territorial frontiers of trade into space,” said Bill Nelson, president of the U.S. Space Agency, who attended the flight. Privatization that does not please everyone.

However, work is not limited to tourism. All four men have a busy schedule, with 25 tests on senility, heart health and stem cells. “They don’t stick their noses in portholes. They each have to do meaningful research in their own way, ”said Axiom co-founder Michael Safredini before leaving.

“The experiments I carry out there, which come from Canadian universities and research institutes, would not have had the opportunity to be tested in space without this work,” Mark Pathi argued.

“I think it’s important to distinguish astronauts from private astronauts,” Larry Connor said. The former “spends 10 to 15 hours training, five to 10 minutes in space. (…) We spent 750 to 1,000 hours training. In particular, they want to distinguish themselves from space travelers who take part in the 20-minute flights scheduled for 2021. Richard Branson And Jeff Bezos.

Axiom wants to build its own space station

Larry Connor and Michael Lopez-Alexria trained at Dragon, SpaceX’s capsule organization. And they all learned how to behave in the event of an emergency at the station. But carry out tasks of daily life such as washing in weight.

However, their training is less extensive than that of professional astronauts, who can carry out spacewalks or adjust equipment.

As for Axiom Space, it is the first step towards an ambitious goal: the construction of its own space station. The first batch of this private station is scheduled to launch in September 2024. The organization will initially be affiliated with the ISS, with the latter retiring and becoming autonomous by 2030.

This movement to privatize low orbit is strongly encouraged by NASA, which seeks to generate revenue through these private missions and, in the long run, no longer have to manage the operation of a station, but rather lease the services of structures. Focus on distance study.

See also The HuffPost: Three events by Thomas Baskett after his second trip to the ISS