Representatives of Axiom Space revealed at a press conference the details of the second private space mission Ax-2 on
The spacecraft will be launched into orbitlaunch vehicle Falcon 9. Launch is scheduled for May 8 at 10:43 pm EDT (May 9 at 5:43 am BST) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This will be the second flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft in the Freedom modification (“Freedom”) and the first to fulfill a private order. Last time, Svoboda delivered a NASA crew to the ISS.
According to the mission plan, the Crew Dragon spacecraftwill make a 37-hour flight and dock with the ISS on May 10. After that, the crew will be able to get to the station. They are expected to spend 10 days in orbit and perform more than 20 exploratory experiments, resulting in about 130 hours of national laboratory research.
The second private space mission will go toThe ISS is a little more than a year after the success of the first. Recall that the Ax-1 mission, also developed by Axiom Space, was successfully completed in April last year. Then four participants spent 17 days in orbit.
Ax-2 space mission team (from left to right): mission commander Peggy Whitson, pilot John Schoffner, specialists Ali Al-Karni and Rayana Barnawi. Photo: Axiom Space
The Ax-2 crew will be led by a former NASA astronaut.Peggy Whitson, who previously worked on the ISS as part of the US space agency crew. Whitson holds the world record for cumulative time spent in orbit by a woman, having already spent more than 665 days in space over her three previous flights.
The crew also included two astronauts fromSaudi Arabia: Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Alqarni. They will be the first citizens of this state to visit the ISS, and Barnawi will also be the first woman from Saudi Arabia to fly into space. Fourth team member: American investor and pilot John Shoffner.
Axiom Space plans moredevelop private astronautics and space tourism. Among the plans of the company, including the creation of its own private space station, which will operate after the decommissioning of the ISS.
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On the cover: Ax-2 crew during pre-flight training. Photo: Axiom Space