Following the "Inspiration" 4 mission on September 16 last year, Musk seems to have dug up the first bucket of gold in space tourism. This year, he has even planned at least three space tourism projects for the Dragon spacecraft, namely "Axiom One" on February 28, "Axiom II" in the fourth quarter, and "Arctic Dawn" mission no earlier than November this year.
Musk is going to do 3 space tours this year
Among them, "Axio-1" and "Axiom-2" are spaceX and Axiomastic Space cooperation projects, the target is the International Space Station, and visitors will stay on the International Space Station for 10 days. The goal of the North Dawn Star, like last year's Inspiration 4 mission, is to fly to an orbit of 500 kilometers, and tourists stay in space for up to 5 days.
Axiom One occupant
"North Dawn Star" crew
The biggest highlight of last year's "Inspiration" 4 space tourism mission was that SpaceX equipped the Dragon spacecraft with a 360-degree glass dome, allowing visitors to enjoy the beauty of space while going to the toilet. And this year's "Arctic Dawn" space tourism, Musk has come up with a new selling point, ready to open the first civilian spacewalk in the history of human spaceflight.
Perform inspiration 4 missions on the Dragon spaceship
This big glass dome is so handsome
Large glass dome inspired by 4
It is said that the person to carry out this spacewalk mission is Jared Isaacman. Yes, it is the big money that sponsored the "Inspiration" 4 mission last year, this old brother is addicted to space tourism, just returned to the ground for more than 1 year, and then go to space, but also to pursue new excitement, play some unprecedented difficult projects. It is said that this old brother not only has to play outside the cabin walk, but also to release his hands during the walk, leaving only a "umbilical cord" connected to the "dragon" spaceship, to experience the feeling of floating completely in space, and the rich people can really play.
Jared Isaacman in space
It's so fun
Rich people really play
To perform a spacewalk, an extravehicular spacesuit is required. However, with the aesthetic of SpaceX, it is not willing to use any existing shelf products, so Musk decided to develop it himself. However, the technical difficulty of extravehicular spacesuits is very high, NASA to create a new generation of spacesuit xEMU, has spent 420 million US dollars, several years later, there is no guarantee that 2025 can be made on time to make two sets. Some time ago, NASA will also return to the "pot" of the postponement of the lunar plan, pushing it to the body of a new generation of space suits that have not been released for a long time.
The new generation of American lunar spacesuit xEMU
But Musk is like a play, less than 2 years, is close to completing the task. Just recently, the crew of the "North Dawn Star" publicly displayed a glove of the SpaceX extravehicular spacesuit, and although the entire space suit has not yet been exposed, it still looks like it is full of B blocks. It is said that it is an upgrade on the basis of SpaceX's existing cabin spacesuit, and it is really the same.
Okay, a glove counts
In addition, in addition to the spacewalk this time, Jared Isaacman will also bring 3 new people to experience the brilliance of the universe, which is another "pure play" space tour for all civilians. The staffing of "Axiom I" and "Axiom II" is each time a professional astronaut hired by Axiom Space, with 3 civilian tourists who go to space for the first time. In this way, this year's space tourism alone, SpaceX can send 12 people into low-Earth orbit.
Rich people who want to go to space twice
Coupled with NASA's customized 2 space station round-trip manned "Dragon" spacecraft missions, 2 cargo "Dragon" spacecraft supply missions, that is to say, this year SpaceX will launch 7 spacecraft, sending 20 people into space, as a private space company, it is really too cattle.
Musk isn't just a starship