European crew ready for private mission to ISS
Kennedy Space Center (USA) (AFP) – An all-European crew, including the first Turkish astronaut, is set to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on a mission with US company Axiom Space, as countries with space ambitions increasingly turn to the private sector.
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The launch, Axiom’s third, was originally scheduled for Thursday but was delayed by 24 hours to 00:49 Friday in Turkey (2149 GMT Thursday). The four-person crew will depart from Kennedy Space Center in Florida (southeast) and board the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which will be attached to the top of a Falcon 9 rocket.
“This marks a new era of opportunity for countries to join the international space community,” Axiom Space Head of Mission Integration and Operations Derek Hassmann said of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3).
Hussman noted that the mission “changes the paradigm for space agencies’ access to low Earth orbit (LEO) for microgravity exploration and exploration.”
This is Axiom’s first mission to the ISS in which three paid seats were bought by government agencies rather than sold to wealthy individuals.
Turkish pilot and Air Force Colonel Alper Gezeravci is joined by Swede Markus Wandt, who will become the second Swede in space, and Walter Villaday, an Italian Air Force Colonel who previously flew to the edge of space on a plane from the space company Virgin Galactic.
The crew is commanded by Axiom’s chief astronaut, Michael Lopez-Alegria, a Spanish-American citizen and former NASA astronaut.
Exact costs have not been disclosed, but in 2018, when the company first announced the program, which would lease SpaceX equipment and pay NASA for services, it set the price at $55 million per seat.
Just recently, spacenews.com reported that Hungary is planning a $100 million deal with Axiom for a future mission involving an astronaut.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shown keen interest in the mission, introducing Gezeravci to the Turkish public ahead of his re-election last year and calling the 21-year-old, who trained in the air force, a “heroic Turkish pilot.” “.
“We see this as a new symbol of a growing, stronger and more assertive Turkey,” Erdogan said of the space mission on Tuesday.
© 2024 AFP