SpaceX and Axiom launch private astronauts to the space station

Upon ascending to the space station, Axiom visitors will receive guidance on what to do in various emergencies and how to use the facilities. “This really looks a lot like what our teams do in the first day and a half,” Weigel said.

Then the Axiom astronauts will take off and do their own activities, which include 25 science experiments they plan to perform during the eight days on the space station. The trials include planned medical work with organizations such as the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Montreal Children’s Hospital. Axiom astronauts will also be holding some technology demonstrations, such as self-assembled robots that can be used to build future spacecraft in space.

Axiom’s visitor activities are coordinated with those of other crew members on the space station so that people do not try to use the same facilities at the same time.

There are more than 1,000 pieces of a puzzle, said Ms. Weigl, “I’ll put it this way, to fit everything together.”

With a larger than normal number of people residing in the US part, some dorms are temporary in different parts of the station. Mrs. Weigel said that only one person would sleep on the Crew Dragon.

But Axiom passengers said they would be careful not to disturb other crew members.

“We are well aware that we will be invited aboard the International Space Station,” Lopez Allegria said last month.

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