Moscow. September 24. INTERFAX.RU – The launch of a spacecraft with the first fully commercial crew of Axiom Space as part of the Axiom-1 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is planned for February 21, 2022, the head of the manned flights program of the National Aeronautics Agency and Space Exploration (NASA) Katie Leaders.
“Great news, we are planning to launch the Axiom-1 mission to the ISS on February 21 – it will be the first private space mission on the station supported by Axiom,” Leaders said on her social media page.
According to NASA, the Axiom-1 crew will travel to the ISS from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to the control plan, a crew of four will have to spend 8 days at the station, working together with the astronauts permanently residing at the station. According to a statement on the Axiom Space website, four astronauts will go to the ISS as part of the mission – crew captain, former astronaut and Axiom Space business development director Michael Lopez-Alegria, American Larry Connor, Canadian Mark Pati and Israeli Eitan Stibbe.
Axiom Space was selected by NASA to create a commercial segment on the ISS in 2020. It is assumed that the sending of parts of the segment to the ISS will begin in 2024. The first commercial module is expected to dock in the front port of the Harmony module, which now has a sealed docking adapter.
The first module of the company will house living space for four astronauts and space for research equipment and experiments. The module will also be equipped with a docking adapter with four radial ports, which will allow spacecraft arriving at the station to dock with the segment. The second module, which is planned to be launched in 2025, will be identical in its properties to the first one.
In 2026, a laboratory module will be docked to the segment for conducting experiments and research in a state of microgravity. And in 2027, the last module will arrive at the station – The Axiom Power Tower. Solar panels will be installed on it to supply the segment with electricity, which will allow the segment to switch to autonomous operation at any time. Also, the module will be equipped with a life support system for the crew, a compartment for various payloads and supplies will be allocated. Among other things, The Axiom Power Tower will have an airlock through which astronauts can go into outer space.
After the termination of ISS service, the segment, as specified in the message, will undock from the station and become an independent fully commercial Axiom Commerical Space Station.
