Right on schedule at 11:17 this morning, the Axiom-1 mission to the International Space Station launched into space atop a Falcon 9 under bright blue spring skies from pad 39A on the Kennedy Space Center. At 12 minutes into the flight, the Dragon spacecraft Endeavour separated from the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage and began its in-space journey toward the International Space Station. It is expected to dock with the station on Saturday morning.
About 9-1/2 minutes after launch, Booster 1062 landed on drone ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas. A video loop caught it in better than usual coverage today and is on SpaceX's feed on Twitter. Of note for this mission is that this is the fifth flight of B1062 and the third flight of Crew Dragon Endeavour (capsule C206).
Eric Berger at
Ars Technica
points out a statistic that I found mind blowing. It hasn't taken SpaceX two full years to launch more astronauts than China has in 19 years.
Overall, this was SpaceX's sixth human spaceflight with the Crew Dragon vehicle. The company has transported 22 people into low Earth orbit across those missions in just under two years. To illustrate the rapidity of Dragon's rise, consider that China, widely regarded as having the second-most capable civil space program in the world, has launched 20 astronauts since 2003.
This mission is the first of many that Axiom has planned. It truly is an historic mission; it's the first completely private mission to the ISS; a private citizen crew launched on private corporation's rocket and capsule. Commander Michael López-Alegría of Spain and the United States, Pilot Larry Connor of the United States, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe of Israel and Mark Pathy of Canada will spend about 10 days in space and a little more than a week on the station. Their time will be their own, and they will conduct a bit of research and also enjoy the experience of living in space.
By late 2024, Axiom plans to launch its own spacious module to the station, where its customers will be able to come and go more freely. Before the end of the 2020s, this module and others subsequently launched by Axiom would break off and become an independent, private space station. Assuming the ISS lasts as long as the end of the 2020s and doesn't need to be decommissioned before then.
Richard Angle photo for Teslarati.
The mission is hard to sum up in one cute observation. Yes, the Axiom crew is going to do some experiments, but from everything I can see they're not big new things that have never been done before. As everyone seems to want to point out, these are wealthy old white men, the most despised demographic in Woke Western Civilization. They are privileged. But this isn't a Blue Origin New Shepard flight to just above the Karman line so they can say they've been to space. Instead of the few hours that Space Tourists on a Blue flight get, these four have been in training for a year, working at Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, at SpaceX in Hawthorne, and other places. They can fly the Crew Dragon and they know their way around the ISS.
Final words to Eric Berger at Ars:
The reality is that the crew of Ax-1 is something new: an important part of the transition from spaceflight as primarily a government-led activity to one led by commercial space companies like SpaceX. For example, this will be the fifth flight of this Falcon 9 rocket's first stage, making it a far more experienced booster than has previously been used for human spaceflight. No one really knows where this is all headed, whether it is sustainable, or how weird things might get. But with today's launch, the Ax-1 crew is among the first pioneers to explore this new commercial frontier.
Multinstional companies have been around for a long time. Many of those companies have more assets then some countries. It seems the question which has raised the ire of many; namely, why are our taxes spent this way?, and other questions of the like, is finally answered.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it remains that the only reason why a private enterprise can come to full fruition in this endeavor is because government has allowed it. May we be so bold as to expect government get completely out of the way?
Oh but these private enterprise is built upon previous government research and ability. Yes, but only because government held the monopoly.
Why not till now? Because multi-national corporations are highly risk-adverse (it affects the bottom line) and until SpaceX came along, spaceflight was, and with most places, still is, an expensive and risky thing.
DeleteSpaceX has literally made spaceflight mundane and available to not-nation-sponsored people.
Can't wait until Starship Crewed flies with a full load.
It had to come eventually, and Musk will lead the way to fully commercialized space.
ReplyDeleteThis assumes (!) the Gubmint gets the hell out of the way!!
Snicker. No one wants to hear that some of the rich old White men are serious, and have objectively prepared and trained to make their exploratory experience a success. Contradicts the narrative that each and every single White man is a thief and undeserving of their achievements; while methodically preparing for a task is 'acting White'.
ReplyDelete