According to Digital Trends, the space agency is just days away from launching its first private crew mission that will see three amateur astronauts traveling to the International Space Station on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which will take off from the Kennedy Space Center. of Florida on April 3. , with the company’s Falcon 9 rocket powering its orbital journey. Wonderful photos of the Earth from space Former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría will serve as commander of the Axiom 1 (Ax-1) Mission along with a trio of space tourists who reportedly paid about $ 55 million to travel to the space station and spend eight days in custody. off Earth. will conduct “scientific research, promotion and commercial activities”, according to a recent NASA press release. López-Alegría, who is now vice president at Axiom Space, will be accompanied by Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy, American businessman Larry Connor and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe, who have trained for hundreds of years. from the upcoming launch, including the test drive of the Dragon spacecraft. After months of training, the # Ax1 crew prepares to be quarantined for the final phase of preparation for this historic mission. See the new crew photo: pic.twitter.com/gaPhcYfTAK – Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) March 16, 2022 The International Space Station has been in orbit around the Earth for 23 years, but NASA plans to withdraw the outpost in 2030. It could be succeeded by the commercial space station Axiom Space or the Orbital Reef, which is being built at low Earth orbit from Blue Origin in collaboration with many other space companies, such as Boeing, Sierra Space and others. The space tourism race is certainly intensifying, with more and more companies preparing to offer commercial space flights through various alternative modes of transport. World View announced last year that it had designed a 14 million cubic foot balloon capsule filled with sun to send curious travelers to the “edge of space” for $ 50,000 per ticket. Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter. Thumbnail Image Credit: NASA.
