Here is a new actor of the “New Space” that will have to be reckoned with. Axiom Space has just sent two Saudi astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time. This is the second private commercial flight of the Texan company but above all it is one more step before the launch of its own space station.
A crew of professionals and tourists.
The company, founded in 2016 by Michael Suffredini and Kam Gaffarian, specializes in training astronauts and chartering transport to the ISS. For this second mission, named Ax-2, a Space X Falcon 9 rocket equipped with a Dragon capsule was chosen.
This is the second private commercial flight of the Texan company, after the one carried out in April 2022. With one specificity: the crew is made up of both experienced astronauts and wealthy “space tourists”. The space ticket would cost $55 million, although Axiom has never communicated on this subject. A price that does not cool billionaires: the two annual flights scheduled for the next three years are all full.
Soon an Axiom space station
Spaceflight aside, Axiom Space plans to build its own standalone space station. A first module must be added to the ISS in 2025. This new private station must become independent in 2030, when the international space station will close its doors.
The new space station will become a hotel with 6 habitable parts and an observation dome where tourists and scientists can meet.
This step will be a kind of handover between Axiom and NASA, which wants to focus on the Artemis 3 mission and the Mars exploration program.
Axiom clothes NASA astronauts
Axiom Space will also outfit the Artemis 3 mission astronauts. NASA paid nearly $230 million for this first contract. As a reminder, this mission is to send men to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
This new, more flexible piece of equipment will also equip passengers on the future Axiom space station.
Source: BFM TV
