Watch: SpaceX Ready for First-of-Its-Kind Launch to the International Space Station
They will be riding in the Dragon spacecraft and spend 10 days in space -- two traveling and eight aboard the ISS.
Michael López-Alegría is the crew commander; Larry Connor will be the pilot; Eytan Stibbe is one of the mission specialists; and Mark Pathy is the other mission specialist.The crew will be first in a new class of pioneers that are laying ground work for Axiom Station, a private space station, and also for the full realization of low Earth orbit's possibilities.
Axiom Space is based in Houston. It was founded in 2016 with the goal of building a free-flying commercial space station. "This is just the first of several Axiom Space crews whose private missions to the International Space Station will truly inaugurate an expansive future for humans in space -- and make a meaningful difference in the world when they return home," Axiom Space President/CEO Michael Suffredini said in a statement when the mission was announced last year.The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket being used in the mission has flown four previous missions for SpaceX.
After Friday's launch, SpaceX will again attempt to recover the Falcon 9 booster by landing it on a droneship -- called"A Shortfall of Gravitas'' -- floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
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