Axiom Space names the first private crew to launch into the space station

– The crew of the first fully private orbital space mission will include the second oldest person to launch into space, the second Israeli in space, the 11th Canadian to fly into space and the first former astronaut from NASA to return to Earth orbit, the company’s historic flight organization announced.

Axiom Space on Tuesday January 26 unveiled its customers for its first privately funded and operated mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) flight is organized under a commercial agreement with NASA.

The launch on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is planned: Larry Connor, an American real estate and technology entrepreneur; Eytan Stibbe, businessman and former Israeli fighter pilot; Mark Pathy, a Canadian investor and philanthropist; and Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired NASA astronaut who logged nearly 260 days on four previous missions.

Lopez-Alegria, who retired from NASA in 2012 and is now vice president of Axiom, will command the 10-day Ax-1 mission. Connor, who has flown more than 16 different planes and competed in the US National Aerobatic Championship, will serve as the pilot of the Dragon – the first private astronaut to fly an orbital space mission. SpaceX designed its crewed Dragon capsule to fly autonomously, with human intervention only required in emergency situations.

Depending on other activities planned at the space station, the Ax-1 mission could be launched as early as January 2022. Axiom previously announced that Lopez-Alegria would fly as Ax-1 commander in September 2020. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin announced that Stibbe would bring him to the mission two months later in November.

Tuesday’s reveal, broadcast live on Good Morning America on ABC, was the first time Connor and Pathy had been nominated for the Ax-1 mission.

At 71, Connor will become the second oldest person to fly in space (only passed by the late John Glenn, who completed his second space flight at the age of 77). Head of The Connor Group, a luxury apartment investment firm with over $ 3 billion in assets, Connor also co-founded two fintech companies and created The Connor Group Kids & Community Partners, which serves young people. disadvantaged in the communities where The Connor Group operates.

In addition to flying, Connor also participates in off-road races, has rafted the Zambezi River in Africa and the Futaleufu River in South America, and reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mount Rainier in the Washington State.

Pathy, 50, will be the 11th Canadian to fly in space, after nine astronauts from the Canadian Space Agency and the co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, which became Canada’s first so-called “space tourist” in 2009.

Pathy is the CEO and President of Mavrik, a private investment and financing firm, and Chairman of the Board of the Stingray Group, a music, media and technology company, both based in Montreal. He also sits on the board of directors of the Pathy Family Foundation and is a member of the boards of directors and executive committees of Dans la Rue and the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Stibbe, who was born in Haifa, will be the second Israeli to launch into space, after his friend Ilan Ramon, who tragically died on the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. “Eytan Stibbe will fly with the blue and white flag. [on] his uniform, reminding us that the sky is no longer the limit! »Rivlin said last year. “Thanks to the Ramon Foundation for supporting the initiative.”

Stibbe founded the Vital Capital Fund, which focuses on business and corporate finance primarily in Africa. He is also one of the founders and member of the board of directors of the Center for African Studies of Ben-Gurion University and member of the board of directors of several non-governmental organizations dedicated to education, art and culture. At 63, Stibbe will become the third oldest person to enter orbit.

Lopez-Alegria will be the first former NASA astronaut to return to orbit and visit the ISS. He’ll also be 63 when it launches, but he’s five months younger than Stibbe.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity,” Lopez-Alegria told collectSPACE in his first interview after being chosen to command Ax-1. “It seems like a gift from God and I just want to appreciate it.”

Axiom Space, founded by former NASA Space Station Program Director Michael Suffredini, will organize training and oversee flight operations for the Ax-1 crew, with Lopez-Alegria serving as the company representative. in the space. Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will train as a replacement for Lopez-Alegria. (John Shoffner, a US-based entrepreneur, air show pilot and race car driver, will support Connor.)

The Ax-1 mission is the first in a series of flights to the space station, including one possibly led by actor Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman, who are the forerunners in launching and securing new modules. commercials by Axiom to the ISS. The Axiom segment will serve as a test bed for the company’s planned Axiom free flight station.

Ax-1 will be the first fully private crewed mission in Earth orbit. Between 2001 and 2009, seven private astronauts (participants in space flights or so-called “space tourists”) launched eight self-funded trips to the ISS. Their flights, organized by the American space tourism company Space Adventures, took place aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft with a crew of professional cosmonauts and NASA astronauts (including Lopez-Alegria).

An April 2000 Russian mission, Soyuz TM-30 – the last to dock at the old Mir space station – was funded by the company MirCorp, but was led by two career Russian cosmonauts.