by Houston-based Axiom Space is about to launch the company’s third private astronaut into space. Ax-3 will carry a pan-European crew of four on a two-week mission to conduct research aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The quartet includes an Ax-3 mission commander and a former commander NASA astronaut Michael “LA” López-Alegría, mission specialist Walter Villadeiwho also flew aboard the Virgin Galactic 01 sub-real environment space flight as VIRTUTE 1 mission commander last summer, Turkey’s first astronaut, Alper Gezeravcı and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut reserve member Marcus Wandt.
An Ax-3 crew will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early in the evening, Wednesday, January 17, from NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida. After about 36 hours aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, the crew will dock with the ISS early Friday morning, January 19, if all goes according to plan.
The Ax-3 crew is scheduled to spend 14 days aboard the ISS, after arriving on Friday, January 19. Barring any weather delays, like those that delayed the long return of Ax-1, the four-person crew is scheduled to. returned after two weeks aboard his Crew Dragon capsule, parachuted back to Earth for a splash off the coast of Florida.
Live updates: Axiom Space Ax-3 private spaceflight by SpaceX: Live updates
Photograph: The first space tourists
Michael López-Alegría
Former NASA astronaut Michael “LA” López-Alegría is no stranger to spaceflight. Ax-3 will be its sixth launch to the ISS, and it has no plans to retire anytime soon. “It’s a dream come true for me,” LA told reporters during a January 11 crew teleconference, “I’ll be happy to continue flying as long as the soul is willing, and as long as the body is willing to do that.”
LA was born in Madrid, and came to the US with his parents as a young child. Combined, he has more than 40 years of aviation and spaceflight experience, including three Space Shuttle launches and launch of Soyuz. He was inducted into the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2020, and currently holds the space agency’s cumulative record. time spent on spacewalks, or extra-vehicular activities (EVAs). LA is now working as Axiom’s lead architect.
López-Alegría flew as mission commander for Ax-1and he’s proud to be reprising that role for Ax-3, he said during Thursday’s call.
“I am very proud and happy to lead this mission to the International Space Station, which is important not only for the scientific and technological research demonstrations and outreach events that we will do, but also a very important step towards the goal. of Axiom space to have a commercial space station in orbit before the decade is out.”
Space Axiom building its own habitable modules to attach to the ISS, which it plans to take apart and separate to become its own private space station. During development, crews from each of the company’s commercial missions to the ISS work, in part, toward helping Axiom achieve that goal.
Walter Villadei
This is also not the first spaceflight for the Ax-3 mission pilot, Col. Walter Villadei. Villadei is from Rome, Italy, and serves as a colonel in the Italian Air Force (ItAF). His background includes extensive military flight experience with the ItAF, as well as assignments in the space sector, which sent him to Star City, Russia, for the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) as a Soyuz flight engineer.
Currently, Villadei works as the head of ItAF’s representative office in the United States, overseeing commercial spaceflight initiatives.
He flew on a suborbital flight to space with Galactic Virgo in June 2023, where he was the VIRTUTE-1 mission commander. At the time, he said the flight would help prepare him for longer space flights to come.
“This mission is very important for Italy,” Villadei said during the January 11 news conference, calling Ax-3 a “fundamental step” in Italy’s national space strategy. “It’s a great opportunity for the science community’s industries and institutions to join this new chapter for space exploration.”
Alper Gezeravi
Alper Gezeravcı will fly as Turkey’s first astronaut. The Ax-3 mission specialist has degrees from the Air Force Academy in Istanbul, and the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, and has 15 years of experience flying as a fighter pilot for the Turkish Air Force.
On Thursday’s call, Gezeravcı acknowledged the importance of his country sending someone to space, but said he does not want the mission’s contribution to the global scientific community to be overshadowed.
“I am representing my beautiful country, Turkey, as the first person to go to space,” said Gezeravcı, “however, this mission is not only aimed at the first manned mission, but it is also representing many scientific missions. They intend to contribute to the world of science.”
As with previous Axiom missions, much of the research conducted by the Ax-3 team will focus on the effects of long-duration spaceflight and the effects of microgravity on the human body, with an emphasis on how that research can have beneficial applications down . World. Turkey’s Vokalkord experiment, for example, is developing artificial intelligence to detect diseases by analyzing the sound of people speaking and coughing.
Marcus Wandt
Another Fighter Pilot, Marcus Wandt has more than 20 years of experience in the air, serving in the Swedish Air Force. From fighter pilot, Wandt worked his way up to the role of chief test pilot, eventually founding his own company to provide tactical training to other pilots.
Now a lieutenant colonel in the Swedish Air Force and a member of ESA’s astronaut reserve, Wandt will be the second person from Sweden to fly to the ISS. In the case of Ax-3, it will serve as a mission specialist.
“The determination of how Sweden came together with ESA and Axiom, and all the support from NASA and SpaceX to make this happen,” said Wandt during the Ax-3 crew teleconference.
“I’m so proud to be at the center of that, and to be part of pioneering a new way for Europe to access space and increase the frequency … not only of a European presence but also in European science, and the benefit of what we can do here on Earth that brings everyone forward.”
