Axiom Space
- The first private space crew to fly to the International Space Station was unveiled on Tuesday.
- Commander Michael López-Alegría, pilot Larry Connor, and mission specialists Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe will pay $55 million to be part of Axiom Space’s mission.
- The crew will fly on a SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket and then spend eight days at the ISS.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Axiom Space on Tuesday announced the lineup for the first-ever private crew to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).
The four men will pay $55 million each to fly on a SpaceX rocket to the ISS in early 2022.
It will take the four-man crew about two days to travel on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon from Cape Canaveral in Florida to the ISS, Axiom Space said in a statement. Once they arrive, they will carry out research and philanthropic projects for eight days.
Retired NASA astronaut and Axiom vice president Michael López-Alegría, who flew to space four times during his 20-year career at the space agency, will be the commander. He’ll be the first person to command a civil and commercial human mission into space, Axiom said.
López-Alegría will be joined by US entrepreneur and non-profit activist investor Larry Connor as mission pilot, and both Canadian investor Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe as mission specialists.
According to NASA's 2019 price list, it should cost $11,250 per crew member per day to use the life support systems and toilet on the ISS, $22,500 per day for all necessary supplies such as food, air, and medical supplies, and $42 per kilowatt-hour for power.
For the four crew members on the Ax-1 mission, this adds up to $1.1 million for an eight-day stay. NASA told The Verge that those costs are included in the $55 million each person will pay.
Michael Suffredini, Axiom Space CEO and president, said in the statement: "This is just the first of several Axiom Space crews whose private missions to the International Space Station will truly inaugurate an expansive future for humans in space - and make a meaningful difference in the world when they return home."
—Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) January 26, 2021
López-Alegría told Insider in December: "I really want this crew - who's setting the bar for commercial human spaceflight forever, if you really think about it - to be as good as we possibly can."
"It's important to me for our crew to be respected. I don't want to give anybody any excuses to not like us."