The International Space Station welcomes the first "all private" space tour group.

The International Space Station welcomes the first "all private" space tour group.

The International Space Station welcomes the first "all private" space tour group. According to NASA, the "Ax- 1" mission will last for 10 days, and four passengers will stay in the International Space Station for 8 days to carry out scientific research, education and business activities. The International Space Station welcomes the first "all private" space tour group.

The International Space Station welcomes the first "all private" space tour group, 1 Space Exploration Technology Company. On April 8th, it launched AX- 1, the first completely private ISS trip.

At 1 1: 00 am EDT (23: 00 pm on April 8, Beijing time, 17), a refurbished and reused Falcon 9 rocket was launched from the launch center 39A of the Kennedy Space Center of NASA in Florida, and the AX-65438 aboard the Endeavour spacecraft was launched.

The crew members who carried out the "AX- 1" manned space mission were Larry Connor of the United States, Eitan Stybbe of Israel and Mark Pashi of Canada. They were led by Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut. He will be 60.

About 9 minutes after launch, the first booster B 1062 of Falcon 9 rocket returned from space for the fifth time, and it landed on Gravitas' autonomous unmanned booster recovery ship A anchored in the Atlantic Ocean.

So far, Space Exploration Technology Company has launched 15 1 mission, and reused 9 1 Falcon 9 booster in its fleet. This booster, numbered B4062, has previously performed the missions of GPS III 04 and GPS III 05 of the US space force, as well as the manned space mission "Inspiration 4" of Space Exploration Technology Company and a separate Starlink satellite mission.

The crew of "AX- 1" successfully arrived at the space station after a flight of 2 1 hour. According to Axiom's report, the docking of Endeavour with the space station was delayed by about 45 minutes, because the crew on the space station could not receive the image of the docking port of Harmony module from the centerline camera of Endeavour.

The agency shared: "The mission team used the space exploration technology company's ground station to transmit the video to the astronauts on the space station, so that Endeavour can continue to dock." At 8: 29 am EDT on April 9 (8: 29 pm Beijing time), Endeavour finally docked with Harmony Harbor of the International Space Station, when Endeavour was orbiting the earth about 260 miles above the mid-Atlantic.

Today, there are 1 1 people working and living in the space station. The four crew members of AX- 1 were welcomed on the International Space Station by NASA astronauts Thomas Mashburn, Raja Charlie and Keira Barron, European Space Agency astronaut Matthias maurer, Russian Space Agency astronauts Oleg Artemi, Sergei Kosokov and Dennis Matveyev.

According to Axiom, the crew of AX- 1 is leading the commercialization trend of the laboratory of the International Space Station. During the eight-day visit, they will carry out scientific research and educational projects.

When the 67th expedition greeted the astronaut AX- 1, Thomas Mashburn said, "All of us are very excited to welcome the arrival of Endeavour." "On this historic day, we look forward to long-term cooperation with NASA, our international partners, private companies and private astronauts. So we are ready to do it. "

"I have to tell you, it was a great experience," Lopez-Aliglia and his team members said while floating in the orbital laboratory. "I can't even describe how happy I was in the flying boat for the past day and a half. Seeing these people's faces lit up. "

At the end of the article, let's wish the crew of AX- 1 a smooth space trip and a safe return.

The International Space Station welcomes the first "all private" space tour group 2 At 20: 29 Beijing time on April 9, elon musk's space exploration technology company's Dragon docked with the International Space Station, carrying four passengers. This is a landmark moment, and the International Space Station ushered in the first "all-private" space travel in history.

"Dragon" spacecraft docked with the International Space Station Image source: NASA

At 23: 00 17 on April 8, the "Dragon" spacecraft was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the Falcon 9 rocket. Subsequently, the first and second stages of the rocket were successfully separated, and the first stage of the rocket successfully landed on the unmanned recycling ship in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission codenamed "Ax- 1" is organized by Axiom Space and is also a commercial cooperation project with NASA.

The four passengers on the Dragon spacecraft are Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired astronaut from NASA, Larry Connor, an American real estate tycoon, Mark Botti, a Canadian investor, and Etan Stybbe, an Israeli businessman. It is worth mentioning that none of the four passengers are active professional astronauts. Except for Michael Lopez-Alegria, the administrative employee of Axiom Space Company, all passengers paid $55 million (about 350 million yuan) for air tickets.

Inside the capsule Image source: NASA

According to NASA, the "Ax- 1" mission will last for 10 days, and four passengers will stay in the International Space Station for 8 days to carry out scientific research, education and business activities. According to NASA, this mission marks a milestone in opening up the commercial market of low-earth orbit and the beginning of a new era of space exploration, which will enable more people to participate in more kinds of space missions.

This is not the first time in history that passengers have visited the International Space Station. The last visit was in February, 202 1, 65438. Accompanied by Russian astronaut Alexander Mi Sulghin, Japanese entrepreneur Tomoko Maezawa and his producer Ye Ping Yozo arrived at the International Space Station in the Russian Soyuz capsule, and completed a 12-day trip to the International Space Station, during which they filmed and recorded their daily life in the space station.

International Space Station Image Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

But unlike them, several passengers who entered the space station this time will participate in dozens of experiments with the astronauts of the International Space Station in these eight days, including the research of Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Canadian University, Israel Ramon Foundation and Israel Space Agency, covering human, life and physical sciences, technical demonstration and earth observation.

In fact, this flight not only carries the significance of human commercial space travel, but also carries the ambition of Axiom Space to establish a commercial space station with the help of Musk's space exploration technology company. According to American media Space News, this flight is a pathfinder for the future commercial space station. By the end of this century, one or more commercial space stations will replace the International Space Station.

Last year, NASA began to plan to replace the International Space Station with a commercial space station, and approved the development proposal of three commercial space stations at the end of last year, with a total investment of about 465,438 US dollars+05.6 million pounds. Axiom Space is one of the business partners of NASA.

According to the Associated Press, Axiomatic Space plans to make a second private space flight to the International Space Station in 2023, and start building a prototype of the space station in orbit in 2024. It is expected that it will build a self-sufficient commercial space station within five years, and it can be replaced once the NASA International Space Station is retired.

The International Space Station welcomes the first "all private" space tour group. It is reported that on April 8, US Eastern Time 1 1: 07, Space Exploration Technology Company, an American space exploration technology company founded by Elon Musk, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the Falcon 9 rocket. Four people (three civilian passengers, 1) started an 8-day "trip" to the National Space Station ~

It is worth noting that of the four people who went into space, only 1 has the status of an astronaut. He is the leader of this mission, Mike Lopez-Alegria, a retired astronaut of NASA and an employee of Axiom Space, who led three passengers into space and space station ~

Based on the US Eastern Time, 2 1 hour later, at 8: 29 am on April 9, the "Dragon" spacecraft manufactured by Space Exploration Technology Company successfully docked with the International Space Station.

This also means that for the first time in history, the National Space Station has ushered in an all-private and all-commercial trip, and it is also the first "all-private" space team in the United States to go to the International Space Station ~

Three passengers sent to the International Space Station need to pay a large sum of money to qualify for "boat tickets", each of which is very expensive. The price of each ticket is $55 million, equivalent to RMB 350 million!

So who is the first passenger on the International Space Station? They are 7 1 year-old American real estate tycoon Larry Connor, 63-year-old Israeli businessman Etan Stybbe and 53-year-old Canadian businessman Mark Percy ~

Among them, American real estate tycoon Larry Connor is 7 1 year old, but he is also an experienced pilot. This time he is the co-pilot of the dragon ship!

Although these three passengers paid sky-high air tickets, they were not only "tourists", but also participated in educational promotion and innovative research experiments, and then returned to earth.

The successful arrival of this space tour group at the International Space Station means that this mission represents a partnership between Axiom Space, Space Exploration Technologies and NASA.

This is an important step for the three institutions to expand commercial aerospace enterprises, and it is also the first step for mankind to take the commercialization of space stations!

The roles of these three institutions in this mission can be understood as follows: NASA provides home port for Axiom, Space Exploration Technology Company provides space launch service for Axiom, and Axiom itself plays the role of inspector of commercial space station!

At the same time, the goal that the national space station may be "replaced" by commercial space stations will gradually approach. Since last year, NASA plans to replace the International Space Station with a commercial space station ~

Last year, in June+February, 5438, the United States approved the development proposals of three commercial space stations, and began to build the prototype of the space station in orbit in the next two or three years. It is estimated that a self-sufficient commercial station will be built in five years!

It is reported that on April 19, four astronauts who have completed space missions will return to Earth, and the spacecraft will land near the coast of Florida. Axiomatic Space will also plan to hold a second trip to the national space station in 2003. One year later, the order from Musk Space Exploration Technology Company is coming again!

This mission is of great significance to Musk's space exploration technology company, which proves that private sector participation in manned space transportation is no longer a gimmick. In addition, Musk is rapidly promoting the commercialization of manned space flight of Space Exploration Technology Company. It is reported that the "Starship" of Space Exploration Technology Company can carry at most 100 people ~

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