The second all-private mission to the International Space Station, launched by Axiom Space on the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft, splashed down Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida.
The crew shared the space station with NASA and United Arab Emirates astronauts, as well as Russia’s Roscosmos cosmonauts. The crews, totaling 11 people, kept separate schedules to avoid complications.
The Ax-2 astronauts were galactic guinea pigs of a sort; data taken from them will help scientists better understand how microgravity affects people. The crew included pilot John Shoffner, mission Cmdr. and Axiom Space Director of Human Spaceflight Peggy Whitson and a pair of astronauts from the inaugural class of the Saudi Space Commission, Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, the first Saudis to board the ISS.Mr. Shoffner paid to participate, while the Saudi government paid for the flight of the two SSC mission specialists.
“Government astronauts are indeed a key piece of our business plan,” Axiom Space Chief of Mission Integration & Operations Derek Hassman explained at a press conference before the launch, saying state sponsorship of paid rides to space will likely continue. Ms. Whitson, the first woman to command the ISS while working for NASA, extended her record for the most cumulative days spent in space by a U.S. astronaut to 674 in her first return to space since 2017. Ms. Barnawi became the first female Arab astronaut in space.
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