Texas-based Axiom Space, which organizes the Ax-1 mission in partnership with SpaceX, did not give a reason for the delay. “Late last week, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrived at the hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it has since been combined with the Falcon 9 rocket,” Axiom Space said in a statement. new launch date. . “The team continues the pre-traffic processing work in the shed before the release of the vehicle on Tuesday, April 5. “This change brings a dry dress with the Ax-1 crew on Wednesday, April 6, followed by a comprehensive static rocket fire test the same day.” It is added that the mission team is now targeting the late morning ET on Friday, April 8, for launch, followed by the ISS mooring process early Saturday morning ET. For information on how to track NASA’s live stream launch and connection, Digital Trends covers you. The Ax-1 crew consists of Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy, American businessman Larry Connor and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe, along with mission commander and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría. Each of the three newly trained space travelers reportedly paid about $ 55 million for the 10-day mission to see them live and work with the station’s current crew of professional astronauts. Ax-1 crew members, all of whom have undergone months of intensive space travel training, will conduct scientific research at the ISS, as well as promotional and commercial activities. NASA had the option of launching space tourism missions to the ISS from 2020, when California-based SpaceX was licensed to conduct crew missions from US territory using its own space flight equipment. Since then, NASA has used SpaceX to transport professional astronauts to and from the space station in four crew missions to date. Depending on the success of the Ax-1, NASA’s space mission could be the first of many in orbit before being decommissioned in 2031, although a replacement space station should also be able to accommodate amateur astronauts who can afford the cost of the route.
Recommendations of the authors