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The company’s first mission, AX-1, launched in April 2022 and marked the first time private citizens traveled to the space station from US soil.Īxiom’s goal is to make these missions routine, offering more opportunities for people who are not professional astronauts to experience spaceflight. A company called Space Adventures brokered several such missions to the space station in the early 2000s, booking rides for wealthy thrill seekers on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.Īxiom brought that business model to the United States, partnering with SpaceX to establish a framework for getting an array of customers to the space station. This isn’t the first time individuals have paid their way to space. … We are holding hands, we are working together for the betterment of humanity and just trying to innovate,” he said during a news briefing last week. Saudi Arabia has faced a barrage of criticism from the Biden administration and Congress over its human rights record, though the ties between the US and Saudi Arabia remain strong.ĪlQarni said he believes Arabs’ participation in spaceflight is a “great opportunity” that can inspire the region. The first was Prince Sultan bin Salman, who spent about a week on a NASA space shuttle mission in 1985. “But I’ve really enjoyed it.”īarnawi and AlQarni are only the second and third Saudis to travel to space. “That’s been one of the biggest challenges for me is learning this particular spacecraft,” she said. Whitson has flown on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as well as NASA’s space shuttle, but she said preparing for this mission was “obviously different” because it involved training to operate SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, which has only been flying astronauts since 2020. Her extensive prior experience on the station made her a US record holder for the most cumulative days logged in space, and she ranks eighth on the all-time list. This marks Whitson’s first return to space since 2017. During that time, they’ll work through a lineup of more than 20 investigations and science projects - including stem cell and other biomedical research. The AX-2 passengers will spend about eight days working alongside the existing crew members. “I am very honored and happy to be representing all the dreams and all the hopes of all the people in Saudi Arabia and all the women back home,” Barnawi told reporters last week.Īfter the Crew Dragon capsule docks early Monday, the AX-2 crew will join seven astronauts already aboard the space station. Saudi Arabia also paid to fly two citizens: Barnawi and Ali AlQarni, a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force. One of the three paying customers joining her is John Shoffner, an American who made his fortune in the international telecom business and founded the hardware company Dura-Line Corp. The AX-2 crew is being led by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, 63, now an Axiom employee. With this mission, Whitson also became the first woman to command a private spaceflight. The AX-2 mission is one in a lineup of missions that Axiom Space and NASA hope will continue to spur private sector participation in spaceflight - particularly in low-Earth orbit, where the space station lies. Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi (far left), former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, investor and pilot John Shoffner, and Saudi astronaut Ali AlQarni wave before being brought to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft for launch from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft should dock with the orbiting laboratory at 9:24 a.m.
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The crew is expected to spend the next 16 hours aboard Crew Dragon as it free flies through Earth’s orbit, making careful maneuvers to align itself with the International Space Station.
Weather officials ultimately gave the all-clear for launch, however, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket roared to life, carrying the Crew Dragon capsule and its four passengers toward orbit. Florida is entering its summer wet season, making pristine conditions for rocket launches slightly more challenging to find. The crew boarded the SpaceX rocket Sunday afternoon as weather officials kept a close eye on thunderstorms.
Called AX-2, the mission is making history as stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi becomes the first woman from Saudi Arabia to travel to space. Their journey, put together by the Houston-based company Axiom Space, marks the second all-private mission to the orbiting outpost. The crew is embarking on a weeklong stay aboard the International Space Station.
A SpaceX rocket carrying a decorated former NASA astronaut and three paying customers took off from Florida Sunday afternoon.
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