NASA sent a team of 4 people to the ISS (International Space Station) for the first time in history as part of the space tourism project. Although the launch was delayed 5 times for various reasons, it was successful yesterday. The Falcon 9 rocket managed to land safely for the 5th time after leaving the Crew Dragon spacecraft. After a 20-hour journey, the civilian astronauts successfully docked at their destination.
NASA’s Ax-1 space tourism project succeeded: Civilian astronauts stepped onto the ISS!
Interest in space tourism projects is increasing day by day. The first to open the door of this sector was Russia, which sent billionaire businessman Dennis Titov into space in 2001. In fact, it is known that a film crew shot various shots in the ISS last year.
Then, Russia shared its efforts to monopolize the industry with 2 new Soyuz MS vehicles that will come off the production line by 2024. But the US side, especially NASA and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, is quite ambitious in this regard. Because, although it was postponed 5 times in the past weeks due to some negative reasons, the Ax-1 (Axiom first launch) mission was successfully completed yesterday.
Jeff Bezos’ aerospace research company Blue Origin, consisting of civilian passengers – including William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in Bezos and Star Trek movies – and the Karman Line for a few minutes. The last successful launch was only the beginning of what was to be done on the US side.
Civilian astronauts, SpaceX with Elon Musk CEO has now exceeded the atmosphere with the Falcon 9 rocket, which has become the most reliable in the industry. Then, by traveling for 20 hours with the Crew Dragon spacecraft, also made by SpaceX, they reached the International Space Base and successfully docked. Unlike Bezos’ same-cost mission, they will stay in space for the next week, not just a few minutes.
The 4-person private astronaut task force of the Ax-1 mission, organized by Texas-based Axiom Space, is comprised of Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy, American entrepreneur Larry Connor, former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe and a former NASA mission commander Michael López. It creates alegria.
You can watch the launch within the scope of Axiom-1 mission via the link below.
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