The mission of Ax-3 carries the first fully European crew for Axiom Space - with an astronaut from Turkey in particular, who will become the first citizen of the country to visit low Earth orbit.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A on January 18 at 23:49 Kiev time with the SpaceX Dragon Freedom capsule carrying four astronauts on board. The reusable first stage of the rocket separated two and a half minutes after launch, to begin its descent back to Cape Canaveral for landing. The upper stage ignited one engine to put the capsule into orbit.
Liftoff for #Ax3 🚀
The first all-European commercial astronaut mission has lifted off! Go #Ax3pic.twitter.com/ihFElmx14q— Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) January 18, 2024
Falcon 9's first stage booster has landed at Landing Zone 1 pic.twitter.com/9FUwT4YZHp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 18, 2024
The flight will take 36 hours (docking is scheduled for Saturday), and the mission itself will last 2 weeks.
SpaceX is launching a manned spaceflight mission for the twelfth time, and the current one is just the first of five planned for the Dragon this year.
The four-person Ax-3 is led by American-Spanish citizen Michael Lopez-Alegria - a former NASA astronaut who is now Axiom Space's chief astronaut and led the company's first private flight. His company includes Walter Villadei, an Italian Air Force colonel who went on a suborbital flight with Virgin Galactic last year; Turkey's first astronaut Alper Gençeravcı; and a European Space Agency astronaut reserve member Markus Vandt.
SpaceX was founded to help create a future where not just hundreds but thousands and ultimately millions of people can travel off Earth, to live and work in space and on other planets. pic.twitter.com/xxPjwqRJHT
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 18, 2024
In comments transmitted to Earth shortly after launch, 65-year-old Lopez-Alegria described his feelings:
"Acceleration, a little vibration, just the feeling that you're moving fast. Wow, what a rush!"
Villadei, Gençeravcı, and Vandt are flying to the space station under contracts their governments have with Axiom. They will all conduct scientific experiments developed by researchers from their countries, and also participate in educational and informational activities.
Over 30 research projects will be carried out on Ax-3: ranging from biological and physiological studies to determine the effects of microgravity on the human body, to technological demonstrations. For example, the Italian Air Force has developed a software tool that will provide the ISS with warnings about space debris and weather. Turkey has chosen experiments in genetics and metallurgy, while Sweden and the European Space Agency are sponsoring experiments on brain research, stem cells, remote sensing, and AI.
For the ESA, Vandt's flight is the first time the agency has sent its astronaut into orbit as part of an agreement with a commercial company, rather than through an intergovernmental agreement with the US or Russia. Currently, the European Space Agency has 6 active astronauts, 5 new ones, and 12 reserves (a reserve astronaut from Poland may join the Axiom mission later this year).
Axiom does not disclose mission prices, but in the past it cost around $55 million. The company also plans to launch its own private space station, which will be built as part of the ISS. The first module, which will be connected to the Harmony module, could be launched in 2026; additional components including thermal regulation and power modules will be gradually launched by the end of the decade; and eventually the station will detach from the ISS for independent operation in orbit.
Source: Space, Ars Technica
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