Axiom Space and NASA announce the astronauts of the Ax-2 private mission, with two Saudis on board

When it comes to companies related to the commercial exploitation of Space, one of the most promising is Axiom Space. This company has several plans for the future and has already shown that it is capable of carrying out complex projects. For example, she will build the space suits for the Artemis III mission which will bring humans back to the Moon after the Apollo program. It will also build a commercial space station starting from some modules that will initially be docked with the International Space Station (and then separate when needed).

While future projects are gradually coming to life, the US company has also started its program of private space missions with crew towards the ISS. The first, called Ax-1, ended at the end of April last year. In these hours, some details have been announced on the new mission, called Ax-2which will be launched in the spring of this year with on board also two Saudi astronauts.

Axiom Space and NASA announce some details for the Ax-2 mission

Second as officially reported on board this mission, which will include four crew members, there will be Peggy Whitson (commander, ex-NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight for the private company). They will join her John Soffner, a successful businessman (who will be the pilot), and is one of the paying astronauts. Thanks to an agreement with Saudi Arabia they will then fly Ali Alqarni And Rayyanah Barnawi which will inaugurate the human flight program for the nation.

In general, in addition to an ex-astronaut who therefore has training and experience in the field, the other members can be people who have paid (or whose state has paid) to fly aboard the ISS and in the future on the commercial private station. In the case of Ax-1 there were, for example, Michael López-Alegría (former NASA astronaut and Axiom Space employee), Larry Connor (driver and customer), Eytan Stibbe And Mark Pathy (both customers).

Angela Hart (which runs NASA’s LEO program) said “Enabling more people to go into space is an important component of NASA’s ongoing efforts to grow the low-Earth orbit economy. Private astronaut missions are a key component to enabling a successful transition to a platform model.” owned and commercially operated in low Earth orbit. I appreciate the commitment of our International Space Station and commercial partners to help us realize this future.”. In the future the NASA It is going to “rent” seats aboard commercial stations, space rockets and even space suits thus reducing overall costs when the ISS will no longer be in orbit (as of 2031).

Michael Suffredini (President and CEO of the company) said “Ax-2 brings Axiom Space closer to a commercial low-Earth orbit space station and allows us to build on the station’s legacy and achievements, harnessing the benefits of microgravity for a better life on Earth”.

From a competitive point of view, this should make it possible to use the agency’s budget “rationalized”. The agency will no longer have to maintain part of a space station, will no longer have to perform suit overhauls or updates, and will no longer have to develop (even indirectly) new space rockets. Instead, it will be able to offer contracts that will be competitively exploitable by different companies, Axiom Space between these. NASA, on the other hand, will focus on dedicated space missions such as those to other planets or the Artemis program (which sees a commercial part within it).

There private space mission Ax-2 Of Axiom Space will depart from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Launch Complex 39A) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. The duration of the mission will be approximately 12 days (with 10 days on board the ISS), a much shorter period than the “classics” professional astronaut missions. On-board activities will include conducting scientific experiments, communication and raising awareness on various topics.