SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully completed its mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and made a splashdown off the coast of Florida on February 9. The three-week private astronaut mission, known as Ax-3, was conducted by Axiom Space and aimed to gain spaceflight experience in preparation for the installation of commercial modules on the ISS.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom, splashed down at 8:30 a.m. Eastern off the coast from Daytona Beach, Florida. The reentry and descent went according to plan, with the spacecraft executing a deorbit burn and deploying drogue and main parachutes. The mission was commanded by former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, who also commanded Ax-1 in 2022. Walter Villadei, an Italian Air Force officer, served as the pilot, while Alper Gezeravcı of Turkey and Marcus Wandt of Sweden acted as mission specialists. Wandt represented the European Space Agency (ESA) as its first short-term “project” astronaut.
The four astronauts conducted research and outreach activities during their more than two weeks on the ISS. However, poor weather conditions extended the mission by nearly a week. The scheduled undocking from the ISS on February 3 was delayed due to unfavorable splashdown sites. The spacecraft finally departed the station on February 7, embarking on an unusually long two-day transit back to Earth.
The successful splashdown marked the completion of Axiom Space’s third private astronaut mission to the ISS. Axiom Space plans to install a series of commercial modules on the ISS, which will eventually form the core of a standalone space station after the retirement of the ISS. The company’s next mission, Ax-4, is scheduled for no earlier than this fall.
Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space, emphasized the significance of these missions in expanding access to low Earth orbit and paving the way for Axiom Station. The successful mission also demonstrated ESA’s ability to enable new opportunities for European astronauts in a post-ISS future. ESA, Axiom, and the Swedish space agency signed an agreement in April 2023 to facilitate Marcus Wandt’s participation in the mission.
The Ax-3 mission was SpaceX’s first crewed launch of the year. During the webcast of the capsule’s splashdown, SpaceX announced plans for five or six crewed missions in 2023, including Ax-3, Ax-4, and the Crew-8 mission for NASA scheduled for February 22, with Crew-9 following in August.
In addition to the ISS missions, a private mission called Polaris Dawn is expected to launch in the summer. Funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who led the Inspiration4 private mission in 2021, Polaris Dawn aims to perform the first spacewalk from a Crew Dragon spacecraft using SpaceX-developed spacesuits.
Overall, the successful completion of the Ax-3 mission marks another milestone in the advancement of private spaceflight and paves the way for future endeavors in low Earth orbit. With Axiom Space and SpaceX leading the way, the possibilities for commercial space exploration continue to expand, bringing us closer to a new era of human spaceflight.