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Axiom-1 launch - live: First entirely private mission to ISS launches on SpaceX rocket

Axiom-1, the first all-private citizen mission to the International Space Station, is poised to take off Friday

Friday 08 April 2022 22:09 BST

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Axiom-1, the first all private mission to the International Station, lifted off as scheduled Friday morning.

The four Axiom-1 crew members, all private citizens — though one is a former Nasa astronaut — blasted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft at 11:17 a.m. Eastern from Kennedy Space Center. After a 20.5 hour flight to rendezvous with the space station, they will spend eight days on the ISS.

Axiom Space is developing a module it hopes to add to the ISS sometime in 2024 to serve as a destination for paying customers who wish to fly in space. Over time, the company plans to add on further modules, eventually detaching the complex from the ISS to form a free-flying commercial space station before the ISS’s retirement at the end of the 2020s.

Check back here for continuing live coverage of the Axiom-1 launch and mission.

Rubber bands

With less than 45 minutes to the launch of Axiom-1, the ground team has retracted the tower platform from the rocket and is preparing to load the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with propellant.

Those watching the live feed of the launch can also hear the crew and launch director go through the little things that need to be taken care of — such as making sure all the iPads in the Crew Dragon spacecraft have rubber bands over them to hold them in place during launch.

Jon Kelvey8 April 2022 15:38

A private crew

While Nasa astronauts have been flying to the ISS aboard SpaceX rockets since 2020, Axiom-1 marks the first all private astronaut crew to fly to the space station.

The mission commander, Michael López-Alegría of Spain and the US, is a former Nasa astronaut, but is now a private citizen. His three crewmates have all paid $55 million each to fly in space for the first time.

American Larry Connor is an accomplished aircraft pilot and real estate developer, and will serve as the missions pilot, although the Crew Dragon spacecraft is fully autonomous.

Canadian Mark Pathy is a CEO of an investment firm and will serve as a mission specialist.

Former Israeli Air Force pilot turned investment banker Eytan Stibbe will also serve as a mission specialist.

Jon Kelvey8 April 2022 14:58

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