The conquest of space has begun and with it the era of space tourism, since the crew of the first fully private orbital space mission is ready and will include four men, specifically 3 space tourists as customers and a former NASA astronaut as commander. Each ticket cost $ 55 million.
According to Axiom Space, the company that organizes the trip to the International Space Station, the passage of the Crew Dragon spacecraft it has chartered for the trip will include Larry Connor, an American technology and real estate entrepreneur 71 years old; Eytan Stibbe, businessman and former Israeli fighter pilot, second in his country in space travel; Mark Pathy, a Canadian investor and philanthropist; and Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired NASA astronaut of Spanish descent who recorded nearly 260 days in four previous missions.
Flight Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) is being organized under a trade agreement with NASA. This Axiom mission will allow the crew to live aboard the orbital complex and experience at least eight days of microgravity and views of the Earth that can only be fully appreciated from the Space Station. According to The Washington Post, each space tourist ticket costs $ 55 million.
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Connor, who has flown more than 16 different aircraft and competed in the U.S. National Aerobatics Championship, will serve as a Dragon pilot and become the first private astronaut to pilot an orbital space mission. SpaceX designed its manned Dragon capsule to fly autonomously, with human participation only needed in emergency situations.
Depending on other activities scheduled on the space station, the Ax-1 mission could launch as early as January 2022.
At 71, Connor will become the second oldest person to fly into space (only surpassed by the late John Glenn, who made his second space flight at the age of 77). Director of The Connor Group, a luxury apartment investment firm with more than 3 billion in assets, Connor also co-founded two financial technology companies and established The Connor Group Kids & Community Partners, which serves disadvantaged youth in communities. on opera The Connor Group.
In addition to flying, Connor also competes in off-road racing, rafting on the Zambezi River in Africa and the Futaleufú River in South America, and has reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mount Rainier in Washington State. .
Pathy, 50, will be the eleventh Canadian to fly into space, after nine Canadian Space Agency astronauts and co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, who became the first so-called “space tourist” in the United States. Canada in 2009, Space reports. how.
Pathy is the CEO and chairman of Mavrik, a privately owned investment and financing company, and is the chairman of the board of Stingray Group, a music, media and technology company, both based in Mont- real. He is also a board member of the Pathy Family Foundation and a member of the boards and executive committees of Dansla Rue and the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Stibbe, who was born in Haifa, will be the second Israeli to launch into space, following his friend Ilan Ramon, who tragically died on the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
Stibbe founded Vital Capital Fund, which focuses on commercial and financial companies mainly in Africa. He is also one of the founders and is a board member of the Center for African Studies at Ben-Gurion University and is a board member of several non-governmental organizations dedicated to education, art and culture. At age 63, Stibbe will become the third oldest person to enter orbit.
Lopez-Alegria will be the first former NASA astronaut to return to orbit and visit the ISS. He will also be 63 when he launches, but is five months younger than Stibbe.
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Axiom Space, founded by former NASA space station program manager Michael Suffredini, will organize training and oversee the in-flight operations of the Ax-1 crew, with Lopez-Alegria as the company’s representative. while in space.
The Ax-1 mission is the first in a series of flights to the space station, including one possibly manned by actor Tom Cruise and director Doug Liman, who are forerunners of the launch of Axiom and the connection of new commercial modules in the ISS. The Axiom segment will serve as a test bed for the company’s planned free flight Axiom station.
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