March 29, 2024

Four Private Ax-1 Astronauts Enter Space Station, Meet Expedition 67 Crew

Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe, and Mark Pathy are now aboard the International Space Station following Crew Dragons hatch opening at 10:13 a.m. EDT, Saturday, April 9. It is the very first mission with a totally personal team to get to the orbiting lab.
After a journey of almost 21 hours, Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe, and Mark Pathy came to the International Space Station at 8:29 a.m. EDT Saturday, April 9. Crew Dragon Endeavour docked to the orbital complex while the spacecraft were flying about 260 miles above the main Atlantic Ocean.

The 11-person team aboard the station consists of (bottom row from left) Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Denis Matveev, Kayla Barron, Oleg Artemyev, and station Commander Tom Marshburn; (center row from left) Axiom Mission 1 astronauts Mark Pathy, Eytan Stibbe, Larry Connor, and Michael Lopez-Alegria; (leading row from left) Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Sergey Korsakov, Raja Chari, and Matthias Maurer. Credit: NASA
Dragon Endeavours docking was postponed approximately 45 minutes as the spaceport station teams, consisting of mission controllers at NASA and SpaceX, worked to troubleshoot a concern avoiding the team members on station from receiving views from Dragons center line video camera of the Harmonys modules docking port. Mission teams worked to route video using a SpaceX ground station to the crew on the spaceport station enabling Dragon to continue with docking.
The Moon is pictured (bottom left) as the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour approaches the station with 4 Axiom Mission 1 astronauts. Credit: NASA TV
Following Dragons connect to the Harmony module, NASA astronaut and station leader Tom Marshburn pressurized the area in between the Dragon and station hatches and performed a leak check prior to opening the hatches to welcome the personal astronaut crew.
Axiom Mission 1 astronauts Michael Lopez Algeria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe docked to the zenith port of the Harmony module of the International Space Station on April 9, 2022, following a launch on April 8 on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The four team members will conduct an eight-day mission living and working aboard the microgravity lab before undocking to return to Earth on April xx.
The Axiom team are signing up with Expedition 67 team members, consisting of NASA astronauts Marshburn, Raja Chari, and Kayla Barron, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Sergey Korsokov, and Denis Matveev.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bring the businesss Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on the Ax-1 mission to the spaceport station. Credit: SpaceX
When the Axiom Space Mission 1 (Ax-1) got here at the International Space Station, it was the first objective with a totally personal team to come to the orbiting lab. It represents both a culmination of NASAs efforts to promote a commercial market in low-Earth orbit and a start of a brand-new age of area expedition that enables more people to fly on more type of objectives.
The Ax-1 team will invest more than one week aboard the orbiting lab carrying out science, education, and industrial activities.
Gallery of SpaceX Axiom Ax-1 Mission Launch Images

Axiom Mission 1 astronauts Michael Lopez Algeria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe docked to the zenith port of the Harmony module of the International Space Station on April 9, 2022, following a launch on April 8 on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The four team members will conduct an eight-day objective living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory prior to undocking to return to Earth on April xx. This is the very first spaceflight for Axiom Space and the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA