- The first private space crew to fly to the International Space Station was launched on Tuesday.
- Commander Michael López-Alegría, pilot Larry Connor, and mission specialists Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe will pay $ 55 million to be part of the Axiom Space mission.
- The crew will fly a SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket and then spend eight days at the ISS.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Axiom Space announced on Tuesday that the first private crew ever to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).
The four men will pay $ 55 million in early 2022 to fly to the ISS with a SpaceX rocket.
It will take the four-man crew about two days to travel on the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon from Cape Canaveral in Florida to the ISS, Axiom Space said in a statement. Once there, they will conduct research and philanthropic projects for eight days.
Retired NASA astronaut and Axiom Vice President Michael López-Alegría, who has flown to space four times during his 20-year career with the space agency, will be the commander. He will be the first person to command a civilian and commercial human mission in space, Axiom said.
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López-Alegría will be working with US entrepreneur and non-profit activist investor Larry Connor as a mission pilot, and both Canadian investor Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe as mission specialists.
According to the 2019 NASA price list, it should cost $ 11,250 per crew member per day to use the life support systems and toilet on the ISS, $ 22,500 per day for all necessities such as food, air and medical supplies, and $ 42 per kilowatt- hours for power.
For the four crew members on the Ax-1 mission, it amounts to $ 1.1 million for an eight-day stay. NASA told The Verge that the cost is included in the $ 55 million each person will pay.
Michael Suffredini, CEO and President of Axiom Space, said in the statement: “This is just the first of several Axiom Space crew members whose private missions to the International Space Station will truly inaugurate an expanded future for humans in space – and a significant difference in the world when they return home. ‘
—Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) 26 January 2021
López-Alegría told Insider in December: “I really want this crew – who set the standard for commercial space travel forever, if you really think about it – to be as good as we can be.”
“It’s important to me that we respect our crew. I do not want to apologize to anyone for not liking us.”