by Houston-based Axiom Space is set for the company’s third private launch of astronauts into space. The Ax-3 will carry an all-European crew of four on a mission of approximately two weeks to conduct research aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The quartet includes the commander of the Ax-3 mission and former POT astronaut Michael “LA” López-Alegría, mission specialist Walter Villadeiwho also flew aboard Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 01 suborbital spaceflight as commander of the VIRTUTE 1 mission last summer, Turkey’s future first astronaut Alper Gezeravcı and European Space Agency (ESA), member of the Marcus Wandt astronaut reserve.
The Ax-3 crew will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early in the afternoon on Wednesday, January 17 from NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida. After approximately 36 hours aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, the crew will dock with the ISS early Friday, January 19, if all goes according to plan.
The Ax-3 crew is scheduled to spend 14 days aboard the ISS, following their arrival on Friday, January 19. Barring weather delays, such as those that prolonged Ax-1’s return, the crew of four is scheduled to return after two weeks aboard their Crew Dragon capsule, parachuting back to Earth to splash down off the coast. from Florida.
Live updates: Axiom Space Ax-3 Private Spaceflight with SpaceX: Live Updates
Photos: The first space tourists.
Michael Lopez Alegría
Former NASA astronaut Michael “LA” López-Alegría is no stranger to spaceflight. Ax-3 will be his sixth launch to the ISS and he has no plans to abandon it anytime soon. “It’s a dream come true for me,” LA told reporters during a Jan. 11 crew conference call. “I will gladly continue to fly as long as the soul is willing and as long as the body is willing to do so.”
LA was born in Madrid and came to the United States with his parents when he was a child. Collectively, he has more than 40 years of aviation and spaceflight experience, including three Space shuttle launches and a Soyuz launch. He was inducted into the NASA Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2020 and currently holds the space agency’s record for accrual. time spent on spacewalks or extravehicular activities (EVA). LA now works as Axiom’s chief astronaut.
López-Alegría flew as mission commander for Axe-1and is proud to reprise 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 research and technology demonstrations and outreach events that we will carry out, but it is also a very important step towards the goal. of Axiom space to have a commercial space station in orbit before the end of the decade.
axiom space is building its own living module to dock on the ISS, which it plans to build and eventually detach to become its own private space station. Throughout development, teams from each of the company’s commercially funded missions to the ISS are working, in part, to help Axiom achieve that goal.
Walter Villadei
This is also not the first space flight of the Ax-3 mission pilot, Colonel Walter Villadei. Villadei is a native of 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, to work with the Russian space agency (roscosmos) as a Soyuz flight engineer.
Currently, Villadei works as head of the ItAF representative office in the United States, overseeing commercial spaceflight initiatives.
He made a suborbital flight into space with virgin galactic in June 2023, where he served as commander of the VIRTUTE-1 mission. At the time, he said that flight would help him prepare for upcoming longer space flights.
“This mission is very important for Italy,” Villadei said during the Jan. 11 briefing, calling Ax-3 a “fundamental step” in Italy’s national space strategy. “It is a great opportunity to bring industries from the scientific community and institutions into this new chapter of space exploration.”
Alper Gezeravcı
Alper Gezeravcı will fly as Türkiye’s first astronaut. The Ax-3 mission specialist has degrees from the Istanbul Air Force Academy and the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and has 15 years of experience flying as 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 that fact to overshadow the mission’s contribution to the global scientific community.
“I represent my beautiful country, Turkey, as the first person to go to space,” said Gezeravcı, “however, this mission not only focuses on the first manned mission, but also represents many scientific missions that we intend to carry out. contribute to the world of science.”
Like previous Axiom missions, much of the research conducted by the Ax-3 crew 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 on the planet. Land. Turkey’s Vokalkord experiment, for example, is developing artificial intelligence to detect diseases by analyzing the audio of people talking and coughing.
Marcos Wandt
Another fighter pilot, Marcus Wandt, has more than 20 years of experience in the air, serving in the Swedish Air Force. From a fighter pilot, Wandt rose to the position of chief test pilot and eventually founded 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. For Ax-3, he will act as a mission specialist.
“The decision of how Sweden joined ESA and Axiom, and all the support from NASA and SpaceX to make this happen is fantastic,” Wandt said during the Ax-3 crew teleconference.
“I’m very proud to be at the center of this and to be part of pioneering a new way for Europe to gain access to space and increase the frequency… not only of the European presence but also of European science, and the benefit of what we can do here on Earth that advances everyone.”
