Axiom lines up ride on NASA’s Crew-6 for Middle East astronaut
Axiom Space flew its first private astronauts for a short stay on the International Space Station this month with the AX-1 mission, but it wasn’t their first attempt to get a customer to the station.
They had previously purchased a seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket, but ended up trading that seat in 2021 so it could ensure it maintained a continued presence on the ISS, even though SpaceX Crew Dragons had begun regular service through the Commercial Crew Program by late 2020.
NASA, though, was hedging its bets in case there were issues with SpaceX’s operations, so the deal was struck.
In return, Axiom Space had the right to claim one of the seats on a future flight from Commercial Crew, a straight-up trade with no exchange of funds.
Axiom Space is cashing in on that agreement with the announcement it had inked a deal to send up a professional astronaut for the United Arab Emirates, a country that doesn’t have direct access to the station like the U.S., Russia and members of the European Space Agency.
A UAE astronaut had previously flown to the station with Russia for an eight-day trip in 2019, but now the country will have representation on the ISS as part of the Crew-6 mission expected to launch in early 2023 and stay connected to the station for about six months.
NASA has named two of that mission’s astronauts already with commander Stephen Bowen, a veteran of three space shuttle missions and rookie pilot Warren Hoburg. The fourth seat
has yet to be identified, but NASA has been lining up seat trade agreements with Russia as well that could be in play. The four will be part of both Expedition 68 and 69 on board the ISS.
“It is our great pleasure to sign the agreement with the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, marking the first time a commercial space company has made such a mission possible,” said Axiom Space President and CEO Michael Suffredini in a press release. “Axiom Space is proud to provide MBRSC with a fight opportunity for a UAE astronaut, enabling its first long-term mission to the ISS.”
The UAE has a burgeoning space program that
launched in 2017 run out of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre. The country has already sent its first probe to Mars, the Hope Orbiter. Its long-range plans are to build a settlement on Mars by 2117.
Axiom inked the deal to fly their yet-to-be named astronaut that will be the first long-duration flight of an astronaut from an Arab nation. Present at the signing ceremony were two UAE astronauts, Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla.
The company did not announce how much UAE was paying for the flight opportunity.
The single-seat mission is different than it’s next three planned multipassenger
missions, although for now, all will be using SpaceX Crew Dragons. AX-1 took off from Kennedy Space Center on April 8 on the Crew Dragon Endeavour for what was supposed to be a 10-day trip, but weather delayed the four passengers’ return by a week. Three of the crew paid Axiom $55 million each for the ride while the fourth crew member was Axiom Space employee and former NASA astronaut Commander Michael López-Alegría.
The AX-2 mission will also be commanded by a former NASA astronaut turned Axiom Employee. Peggy Whitson, who became the first woman to command the ISS and one-time American record holder for time spent in space, will be joined
by pilot John Shoffner, a former businessman who also raced cars competitively. Two other seats have yet to be announced.
The mission will be shorter as well, currently targeting early 2023. Axiom has an agreement to fly AX-3 and AX-4 on Space Crew Dragons as well, but has yet to nail down dates with NASA.
The company’s flights with paying customers are a precursor to it installing several modules to the ISS as part of a contract with NASA. The first is slated to fly up in 2024.
“After our first two modules are on orbit, we’ll be able to house eight crew,” Suffredini said during an AXpreflight press conference. “We’ll have life support, and quarters and all the facilities necessary for eight crew, and do research. A third module actually brings on a research-dedicated module and so if you can imagine at that point we’ll be very busy.”
NASA is looking to keep the ISS up and running through 2030 with its international partners, but at its end-of-life, the Axiom modules will detach from the ISS and get their own power source to become its own freestanding commercial space station.
“It’s important for us and the space agency, the space agencies excuse me to be able to practice this at a sort of a smaller scale leading up to that point,” Suffredini said. “So that’s our business plan.”