Four astronauts on the mission (from left) Mark Pathy, Larry Connor, Michael López-Alegría, and Eytan Stibbe (Source: SpaceX Official)
Musk is rapidly pushing for the commercialization of SpaceX's manned spaceflight.
At 11:17 a.m. Eastern Time on April 8, SpaceX, founded by elon Musk, the world's richest man, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida using the Falcon 9 rocket to send four civilian passengers to the International Space Station.
It is reported that this time SpaceX and the United States start-up commercial space company Axiom Space (Axiom Space) to use the "Dragon" spacecraft for the latter to carry out the first all-private manned space mission to the International Space Station Ax-1.
This is the first time spaceX has transported civilians to the International Space Station (ISS) in the form of a chartered flight, that is, a full-length tour of tourists (all-commercial) and no professional astronauts (all-private), writing the first time that the United States has visited the International Space Station with the participation of non-active astronauts.
At the same time, this is also the first time that NASA has opened the International Space Station to the outside world, and the concept of handing over low-altitude Earth-orbit space to private space companies for commercial operation has also been further realized.
Musk also wrote his own history again, using the Falcon 9 rocket to complete the first all-private manned spaceflight mission.
As of the time of the Titanium Media APP, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station in the early hours of this morning Beijing time after flying for about 20 hours. At this point, the International Space Station has ushered in a space tour group composed of "non-active astronauts" astronauts for the first time.
First group photo of the International Space Station including ordinary tourists (Source: SpaceX)
Led by private companies, 3 wealthy businessmen each spent 350 million yuan on space experiments
The four space tour group members who flew the Ax-1 launch, including former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, American entrepreneur Larry Connor, Canadian investor Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, The next three wealthy businessmen each had to pay $55 million (about 350 million yuan) for the trip.
Michael, who has traveled to space four times, left NASA in 2012 and is currently vice president of Axiom Space and will serve as mission commander on the Ax-1 mission. While Connor, who is in his 70s, serves as pilots, Parsi and Stipby serve as mission specialists.
In January 2021, SpaceX announced the crew list, and subsequently, the four astronauts conducted 750 to 1,000 hours of ground training for this purpose, so that they could train and stay in space around the clock.
NASA said that the four tourists who lifted off will participate in scientific experiments on the International Space Station together with professional space astronauts on the station. The four passengers returned to Earth after 2 days of round-trip and planned to spend 8 days in the orbital laboratory to participate in educational promotion and innovative research experiments.
Michael had said the mission was "100 percent not a vacation" for the other 3 passengers, who collaborated with various agencies, hospitals and other research entities.
Specifically, they will conduct commercial cancer research, conduct tumor organoid modeling, inform future space missions, accelerate countermeasure development, and improve astronaut safety. This could also provide tools for the detection and treatment of precancerous, cancer, and other diseases on Earth. And they will also work with research institutions to conduct a series of human health and technical surveys, including aging, chronic pain and so on.
In addition, the Ax-1 mission will bring back to Earth additional scientific samples and space station payloads for NASA, including peppers grown in space, samples from aging and heart health studies conducted during the mission, and replenishment system containers and tanks filled with oxygen and nitrogen.
It is reported that this launch is the fifth flight of the Falcon 9 first-class booster, after the separation of the first and second stages, the first-level booster returns to land on the unmanned barge in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission is also the fifth manned spaceflight of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, and the crew dragon spacecraft that performed this mission has previously carried out two manned launch missions, Demo-2 and Crew-2.
SpaceX's human spaceflight commercialization accelerates
The United States, which has been opposed to admitting non-professional space astronauts to the International Space Station in the past, has softened its attitude and privatized low-altitude Earth-orbit space, with private space companies such as SpaceX dominating its commercial development.
In 2010, NASA launched the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which seeks spacecraft services from private contractors like SpaceX to deliver experimental equipment and supplies to the Orbital Laboratory on the International Space Station, using the capabilities of commercial transportation to commercialize the U.S. space program, thereby advancing high-quality scientific research and technology development in the United States.
"In the long term, NASA aims to be one of the independent, commercial, and free-flying habitable destinations where many customers purchase services in low Earth orbit." NASA has explained.
On May 30, 2020, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully sent two NASA astronauts into space and arrived at the space station, realizing the first private manned space launch mission. (For details, see the previous article of Titanium Media: "SpaceX Achieves Full Record of the First Manned Launch!") Musk successfully ushered in a new era of commercial spaceflight | Titanium Media Depth")
Last year, companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin competed in space tourism.
On July 11, 2021, Virgin Galactic's "Unity" spacecraft completed its first full-man space test flight in New Mexico, usa, and the company's founder Branson accompanied the '9 days, the "New Shepard" aircraft of blue origin company in the United States completed the first manned space test flight in Texas, accompanied by the company's founder and Amazon founder Bezos; on September 15, SpaceX successfully sent the "Dragon" spacecraft into space with the "Falcon 9" rocket, and the "space tour group" composed of 4 non-professional astronauts was formed. It flew in orbit around the Earth for 3 days.
The successful arrival of the space tour group of four astronauts on the International Space Station means that SpaceX and NASA have gone further in manned spaceflight and realized the commercialization of manned spaceflight in the United States for the first time.
Professor Wu Ji, former director of the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has said that Musk's SpaceX company proves that the participation of the private sector in manned space transportation is no longer a gimmick, but opens up new fields. Thereafter, companies will be able to sell services such as personal space travel to governments and other institutions or individuals looking to buy services.
At the press conference of the Ax-1 launch mission, Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space, said that the International Space Station is currently owned and operated by professional astronauts from 15 countries, but after the completion of the mission, it can provide more individuals, countries and companies with the opportunity to go to space privately, so that everyone can use the International Space Station and eventually do more things in space.
"The universe is infinite, the universe is unknown, the universe is an entity, its way of life is a lot of unknown, so to fly to the universe, we need to know something about it." 」 Michael said that spaceX and Axiom Space's commercial partnership for manned spaceflight far outperforms other companies such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic' customer service.
Falcon 9 spacecraft on the Ax-1 mission (Source: SpaceX official)
It is reported that on April 19 this year, the four astronauts who completed the space mission will return to Earth, and the spacecraft will splash off the coast of Florida. Axiom plans to hold a second trip to the International Space Station in 2023 and is preparing to connect the cabin module to the space station in 2024. (This article was first published on titanium media App, author | Lin Zhijia)