On April 8, 2022, SpaceX launched a four-person crew from Cape Canaveral, Florida, marking the company’s first fully private charter flight to the International Space Station. The passengers included an American, a Canadian, and an Israeli businessman, each of whom paid $55 million for transportation and accommodations.
Former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria accompanied them as their escort. The mission was arranged by Axiom Space, a private company that coordinated the visit with NASA. The paying customers are Larry Connor from Dayton, Ohio, who leads the Connor Group; Mark Pathy, founder and CEO of Mavrik Corp. based in Montreal; and Eytan Stibbe, a former fighter pilot and founding partner of Vital Capital from Israel.
“It was a hell of a ride and we’re looking forward to the next 10 days,” Lopez-Alegria said after reaching orbit. Each visitor has a schedule of experiments to conduct during their stay, which is one reason they avoid being called space tourists.
“They’re not up there to paste their nose on the window,” said Michael Suffredini, Axiom’s co-founder and president and a former NASA space station program manager.
Political Context and Station Access
Russia has hosted tourists at the space station and previously at Mir station for decades. Last fall, a Russian movie crew flew up, followed by a Japanese fashion tycoon and his assistant. The visitors’ tickets grant access to all areas of the space station except the Russian segment.
They will need permission from the three cosmonauts currently on board. Three Americans and a German also reside at the station.
Lopez-Alegria intends to avoid discussions about politics and the war in Ukraine while at the station. “I honestly think that it won’t be awkward. I mean maybe a tiny bit,” he said, adding that he expects the “spirit of collaboration will shine through.”
Risk Awareness and Safety
SpaceX and NASA have been clear with the customers about the risks of spaceflight, according to Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months at the station 15 years ago. “There’s no fuzz, I think, on what the dangers are or what the bad days could look like,” he told reporters before the flight.
NASA’s Kathy Lueders, head of space operations, said there is much to learn from this first wholly private station visit. “But man, was this launch a great start,” she told reporters.
Commercial Space Market Growth
The three businessmen are the latest to benefit from the opening of space to those with financial resources. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is taking customers on 10-minute rides to the edge of space. Virgin Galactic expects to start flying customers later this year.
Friday’s flight is SpaceX’s second private charter, following a three-day orbit ride for a billionaire and his guests last year. SpaceX’s fifth NASA astronaut flight to the station is scheduled in a few weeks.
Axiom is targeting next year for its second private flight, with plans to add its own rooms to the station beginning in 2024. After about five years, the company intends to detach its compartments to form a self-sustaining station, one of several commercial outposts meant to replace the station once it is retired and NASA shifts focus to the moon.
Personal Items and Legacy
At an adjacent pad during launch, NASA’s new moon rocket awaited completion of a dress rehearsal for a summertime test flight. As a gift for their seven station hosts, the four visitors are bringing paella and other Spanish cuisine prepared by celebrity chef José Andrés. For the rest of their stay, NASA’s freeze-dried food will suffice. The automated SpaceX capsule and its passengers are due back on April 19 with a splashdown off the Florida coast.
Connor is honoring Ohio’s air and space legacy by bringing a fabric swatch from the Wright brothers’ 1903 Kitty Hawk flyer and gold foil from the Apollo 11 command module from the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum. Stibbe, only the second Israeli in space, will continue a thunderstorm experiment begun by Ilan Ramon, who died aboard shuttle Columbia in 2003.
They were in the same fighter pilot squadron. Stibbe is carrying recovered pages of Ramon’s space diary, a song composed by Ramon’s musician son, and a painting by his daughter. “To be a part of this unique crew is proof for me that there’s no dream beyond reach,” he said.
