The first fully private manned mission sent to the International Space Station (ISS) arrived, this Saturday, at its destination, one hour late.
The four crew members joined the remaining occupants of the ISS – four astronauts and three cosmonauts – after departing, on Friday, from the Kennedy Space Center, in the United States, aboard a spacecraft belonging to the American aerospace company SpaceX.
Michael López-Alegría (mission commander and former NASA astronaut), Eytan Stibbe (former Israeli aviation pilot), Larry Connor (American investor and private pilot) and Mark Pathy (Canadian businessman) will be at EEI during nine days doing scientific experiments and educational and commercial activities.
The four men traveled on the service of another US aerospace company, Axiom Space, which debuts in commercial missions to the International Space Station. With the exception of Michael López-Alegría, who is part of the company, the other crew members paid millions of dollars for the trip.
SpaceX, owned by magnate Elon Musk, has already sent US and European astronauts to the ISS, maintaining a collaboration with the US space agency NASA, which operates the Kennedy Space Center.
Axiom Space, which aims to create the first commercial space station, whose first module is expected to launch in 2024, has agreed with SpaceX for a total of four missions.
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