Update: On April 8, 2022, the crew was lifted into space on time.
Larry Connor, a trained real estate mogul and aspiring astronaut, wants to make one thing clear. No, Connor said on April 1, 2022, when his crew was introduced, they were not space tourists. They are not those guys who train for a few hours and then have a few minutes of fun in weightlessness. They are real astronauts when they fly to the International Space Station ISS. Just private.
Ax-1 is the name of the upcoming mission with which the US company Axiom wants to push the commercialization of Earth orbit to new heights. If nothing comes up at the last minute, three space tourists – pardon, private spacemen – will leave for the ISS on April 8, 2022 at 17.17 Central European time. A professional astronaut will accompany you. For eight days they are supposed to live there, rejoice and conduct some experiments.
For Axiom, the mission is more than a fun trip. The managing directors have an ambitious business model: the company, led by a former manager of the US room trip authority NASA, plans its own commercial module for the ISS. And in a few years there should even be an axiom room station, inhabited by private astronauts.
Ax-1 properties cost approximately 50 million euros.
For a long time this kind of space tourism was a domain of Russians. Russia's space agency was all too happy to sell free seats in Soyuz capsules to wealthy customers, which the US company Space Adventures, for example, arranges. Only in December 2021, a Japanese billionaire had flown to the ISS with his assistant for two weeks in this way. What this cost him, Space Adventures does not reveal. However, NASA recently had to transfer more than the equivalent of around 82 million euros, or $ 90 million, to Russia for each Soyuz flight opportunity.
The times are over. After the United States with the SpaceX crew dragoon capsule now have its own private space vehicle, tourism activities are also shifting. In mid-September, for example, four American hobby room travelers were traveling in orbit for several days, chartered by the US billionaire Jared Isaacman. So now the next step, the flight to the ISS.
That such missions are still something special is already shown by the composition of the paying crew: all men, all over 50, all very, very rich. In addition to Connor, the real estate mogul from Ohio, who will also take on the role of the Dragon pilot, Mark Pathy is on board, head of an investment company and heir to one of Canada's largest shipping companies. Third in the league is the Israeli investor and former Air Force colonel Eytan Stibbe. Finally, Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut who is now in the service of Axiom and will command the mission, acts as a tour guide.
The equivalent of around 50 million euros, i.e. 55 million dollars, each of the three men had to pay for the adventure of his life. Nevertheless, CEO Michael Suffredini did not want to reveal in advance during the online press conference whether the mission pays off for Axiom. One thing is clear: Axiom's expenses are high. The company will have to charter a Falcon 9 rocket and a crew capsule from SpaceX. In addition, Axiom will receive an invoice from NASA. According to the price list, the space agency charges $ 35,000 per day and per capita for food and accommodation on board the orbital hotel called ISS. In return, Axiom makes itself useful, brings two freezers, transports an empty tank back to Earth and receives around six million euros in freight charges from NASA in return. At least in this respect, the commercialization of the orbit is already working.
"Extensive research" will operate visitors on the ISS, said Axiom, which also advertises the mission as the "next big leap for humanity".
Ultimately, however, the millionaire trio will primarily continue the philanthropical activities that it also feels committed to Earth: Larry Connor plans attempts for the Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic and wants to teach pupils in Ohio from orbit at home.
Mark Pathy wants to support experiments for Canadian universities and for the Montreal Children's Hospital.
And Eytan Stibbe is committed to the Ramon Foundation - an educational organization, named after Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space.
Ramon died in the crash of the US room ferry Columbia in 2003 and was considered a close friend Stibbes.
A total of 25 experiments are planned, according to Axiom.
Axiom competes for a major NASA contract
Meanwhile, the company is already planning the next missions. Flights Ax-2 to Ax-4 are permanently booked with SpaceX. They will once again lead to the ISS, even though NASA has recently raised the cost of private overnight stays in the orbital outpost significantly. Reason: The demand is high.
Axiom has also been awarded the contract from the US room trip authority to contribute a commercial module for the ISS for the equivalent of almost 127 million euros. Previous attempts in this direction were not very successful: In 2016, the US company Bigelow was able to test an inflatable private module to the space station. Bigelow has now released all employees, the module is used as a storage room.
This does not deter the employees of Axiom. The company is planning further ISS modules and wants to use them to form its own space station one day. It is competing with three other US consortia for a major NASA contract: the construction of a commercial space station to succeed the ISS. At this station, NASA wants to be just one tenant among many. However, whether there will be great commercial interest in such accommodation remains to be seen. All attempts to establish paid contract research on a large scale on the ISS have not yet borne fruit. The only thing that works halfway is space tourism.
Commander López-Alegría and his crew are therefore aware of the pressure on them: they have to make a good impression. They have to prove themselves, show that the 15 weeks of training were worth it, and dispel possible reservations of the professional astronauts on board the ISS. "Our task will be to win them over to us – by being as prepared as possible," López-Alegría had told the Washington Post in advance of the flight. The professional crew should be "satisfied" with the visitors, "maybe even pleasantly surprised".
However, NASA does not seem to trust the matter completely. As the journal "Aviation Week" reports, Axiom had to take out liability insurance for the private crew - in the event that visitors clog the toilet, pull the plug an experiment or break something on the ISS. Required sum insured: at least nine million euros.
