NASA has unveiled the crew of a privately funded astronaut mission to the International Space Station that will launch aboard SpaceX’s Dragon rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the Axiom Mission 2 crew, which includes pilot John Shoffner and specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi from Saudi Arabia, the agency said Tuesday.
The second Axiom Space-organized mission has secured approval from NASA and its international partners to conduct outreach, science and commercial activities at the space station for 10 days.
“Ax-2 moves Axiom Space one step closer toward the realization of a commercial space station in low-Earth orbit and enables us to build on the legacy and achievements of the station, leveraging the benefits of microgravity to better life on Earth,” said Michael Suffredini, president and CEO of Axiom Space,
Angela Hart, manager of NASA’s Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development Program, shared that private astronaut missions like Ax-2 will help enable the “transition to a model of commercially owned and operated platforms in low-Earth orbit.”
Axiom Space’s first mission to ISS involved a four-member crew that spent 17 days in orbit to work on 26 science payloads and conduct various educational and public outreach engagements.
