NASA to send first Axiom Space astronauts to International Space Station on Feb 28

NASA and Axiom Space’s first private space mission (Ax-1) has been scheduled for a launch on February 28, announced NASA’s associate administrator Kathy Lueders on Monday. This announcement comes after both the agencies signed an agreement for the same in May this year, where they will send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for a week-long mission. Interestingly, Axiom Space had bagged a second private mission to the space station last week even before the date for its first mission was revealed. Calling NASA's partnership with Axiom an 'important step', Lueders took to Twitter to thank the latter and emphasized the importance of expansion of human activities in low-Earth orbit. 

In her second tweet, Leuders also informed that the four private astronauts from Axiom Space- Michael López-Alegría, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe have cleared their medical tests and are completely capable to endure a space trip.

Ready to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in SpaceX's Dragon capsule, the astronauts will spend eight days aboard the space station. In addition to this, services such as crew supplies, cargo delivery to space, storage, and other in-orbit resources for daily use will be purchased by Axiom and in turn, NASA will purchase Axiom's capabilities to return scientific samples from space to Earth. Recently, Axiom revealed the science experiments its astronauts will carry to the space station for research during their stay.  According to the company, the astronauts have personally chosen 25 experiments under the Ax-1 mission that will focus on science, education, and outreach. Earlier following the Ax-1 agreement, Axiom had stated-

The first private crew to visit the International Space Station is a watershed moment in humanity’s expansion off the planet and we are glad to partner with NASA in making it happen. A thriving commercial marketplace in low-Earth orbit begins with expanding access to serious, nontraditional users and that is exactly the aim of our private astronaut missions.

Once this mission is complete, Axiom will move on to the second private mission Ax-2 to the space station, as it recently won a contract for the same from NASA on December 14.

Meet the astronauts

The crew of Ax-1 consists of four members out of which three are just common people who can afford space travel. Axiom's first customers include Larry Connor, a real estate and tech entrepreneur from Dayton, Ohio, Canadian financier Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe. The upcoming flight will be commanded by Michael Lopez-Alegria who is a former NASA astronaut who has been a part of three space shuttle missions.