Private Mission to Depart for ISS in Spring 2023

NASA and its international partners have approved the crew slated to man Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Recently chosen by NASA to design, develop, qualify, certify, and produce a moonwalking system (read spacesuit) for the agency’s planned Artemis III mission, Axiom Space is a privately-funded space infrastructure concern based in Houston, Texas.

Axiom Space Director of Human Spaceflight and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will command the privately funded mission. John Shoffner of Knoxville, Tennessee, will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists, Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), are members of the inaugural Saudi national astronaut program. The patently diverse group is flying by dint of an arrangement between KSA and Axiom Space.

NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program manager Angela Hart stated: “Enabling more people to go to space is an important component of NASA’s continuing efforts to grow the low-Earth orbit economy. Private astronaut missions are a key component to enable a successful transition to a model of commercially owned and operated platforms in low-Earth orbit. I appreciate the commitment of our International Space Station and commercial partners to help us achieve this future.”

The Ax-2 crew will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and travel to the space station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend ten days aboard the orbiting laboratory seeing to the completion of an itinerary comprising scientific, outreach, and commercial objectives. The mission, targeted for launch in spring 2023, will be the first private enterprise to include both private astronauts and astronauts representing foreign governments.

Axion Space president and CEO Michael Suffredini remarked: “Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station cements our mission of expanding access to space worldwide and supporting the growth of the low-Earth orbit economy as we build Axiom Station. Ax-2 moves Axiom Space one step closer toward the realization of a commercial space station in low-Earth orbit and enables us to build on the legacy and achievements of the station, leveraging the benefits of microgravity to better life on Earth.”

Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, launched 08 April 2022 carrying a quartet of private astronauts who spent 17 days in orbit, working on 26 scientific payloads aboard the ISS and conducting more than 30 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) educational and public outreach contrivances. The crew splashed down off the coast of Florida on April 25, 2022, to conclude the mission.

Private astronaut missions to the International Space Station are an ostensible precursor to privately funded commercial space stations and, in the near-term, support NASA’s efforts to develop a thriving low-Earth orbit ecosystem and marketplace. NASA is currently reviewing proposals for the third and fourth private astronaut missions to the ISS.

For more than 22 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. The agency's goal is to enable a strong, commercial marketplace in low-Earth orbit, of which NASA is one of numerous customers serviced by private industry. The stated strategy is intended to provide services required by the U.S. federal government at a lower cost, thereby enabling NASA to focus on its Artemis lunar missions in preparation for journeys to Mars, while continuing to use low-Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for future deep space missions.

FMI: www.nasa.gov