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Updated March 29th, 2022 at 15:49 IST

Axiom Space's first private mission to ISS delayed again; new launch date set for April 6

Axiom Space’s first-ever private astronaut mission to the ISS has been delayed again and is now targeted for launch no earlier than April 6.

Reported by: Harsh Vardhan
Axiom Space
Image: Twitter/@Space_Station | Image:self
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Axiom Space’s first-ever private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed yet again and is now targeted for launch no earlier than April 6. The launch was pushed from March 31 to April 3, but will now be conducted on the said date at 9:35 pm (IST) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The reason for postponing the launch is the “wet dress rehearsals” for the Artemis I moon mission, which is also being conducted at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA revealed in a recent update. “NASA teams supporting the Artemis I mission polled “go” today to proceed with the wet dress rehearsal, planned for Friday, April 1, through Sunday, April 3, on Launch Pad 39B”, the agency said. While the date for the Ax-1 static fire test has been fixed on April 4, this would not affect the launch of SpaceX’s Crew-4 mission which is still scheduled for April 19. 

The Ax-1 mission

The Ax-1 mission would carry a former NASA astronaut and three space tourists into space inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule for an eight-day stay at the space station. The crew members are- Axiom VP and ex-NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, along with entrepreneurs Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe. While Lopez-Algeria will serve as the mission commander, Pathy and Stibbe will serve as mission specialists apart from Connor who is the pilot. These four would also carry out a total of 25 science experiments and would carry out as many as they can during their course of ISS stay.

According to NASA, this would be Lopez-Alegria's fifth overall spaceflight and third visit to the space station whereas the rest three would experience their first visit to outer space. Multiple media reports have suggested that each of the first-time space tourists has paid about $55 million for a seat in the Dragon capsule. 

Image: Twitter/@Space_Station

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Published March 29th, 2022 at 15:49 IST

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