That honor goes to SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission, which sent billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and three other people on a three-day trip to Earth orbit in September 2021. He'll fly with three paying customers, each of whom reportedly paid $55 million for the experience and has undergone extensive training with Axiom: American Larry Connor, Canadian Mark Pathy and Israeli Eytan Stibbe.Īx-1 will be the first all-private crewed mission to the ISS, but not the first all-private orbital jaunt. The eight-day Ax-1 mission will be commanded by López-Alegría. The company has already booked four astronaut missions to the ISS aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and Crew Dragon capsules, and the first, known as Ax-1, is scheduled to lift off on Feb. Related: Weightlessness and its effects on astronauts Axiom Space: Astronaut missions, tooĪxiom doesn't plan to wait until 2024 to get to space, however. "A commercial space station also offers cost-saving opportunities for agencies like NASA to conduct fundamental space science research and prepare astronauts for longer missions to the moon, and on to Mars, without the financial burden of maintaining a LEO station," he said. President Joe Biden recently committed to this new timeline, but the other ISS partners - for example, the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russia's federal space corporation, Roscosmos - need to sign on as well.Īxiom Station and other commercial outposts in LEO - and there are others in the works - should create new opportunities for microgravity research, product development, tourism and manufacturing, among other activities, Ondler said. Though the ISS is officially approved to operate only through the end of 2024, an extension to 2030 is widely expected. "This timeline supports the current planned end of ISS life, so there should be a seamless transition with no gaps in human continuous presence in LEO," he said. "With the delivery of the fourth module, Axiom Station will have the capability to be independent of the ISS and can then separate to become an independent, next-generation space station with upgraded crew quarters, increased payload capacity and a dedicated manufacturing and research lab module," Axiom chief technology officer Matt Ondler told recently. Three additional modules will follow by the end of 2027, if all goes according to plan. The first of these Axiom pieces is scheduled to go up in September 2024. The company will launch multiple modules to the ISS this private hardware will eventually detach and become a free-flying outpost. (Image credit: Axiom Space)Īxiom is taking a stepwise approach to the operation of its commercial space station. Artist's illustration of the space station that Houston-based company Axiom Space plans to build in Earth orbit.
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