May 22. (EUROPE PRESS) –
Three Axiom Space clients arrived at the International Space Station this Monday, after completing a training course, on a private mission piloted by a professional astronaut.
The Axiom Mission 2 crew was launched at 21:37 UTC on Sunday from the Kennedy Center in Florida to the orbital complex aboard a Space X Crew Dragon craft that arrived at its destination at 13:22 UTC. Your planned stay is one week.
Axiom Mission 2 is commanded by former NASA Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson. they join her two mission specialists from Saudi Arabia: Fighter pilot Ali Alqarni and biomedical researcher Rayyanah Barnawi. As fourth crew member figure American John Shoffner, an auto racing enthusiast who made money through the fiber optic telecommunications industry and is listed as the mission driver. Shoffner paid an undisclosed sum to fly this mission. A seat on a Crew Dragon spacecraft is estimated to cost around $55 million, according to NASA Inspector General, quoted by Bloomberg.
Once on board the station, the Ax-2 crew was received by members of Expedition 69, including NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Sergey Prokopyev. and Andrey Fedyaev.
During their time aboard the International Space Station, the Ax-2 astronauts will carry out more than 20 scientific experiments.
Axiom Space astronauts are expected to depart the space station on May 30, depending on the weather, to return to Earth and splash down at a landing site off the coast of Florida, reports NASA.
