Category Archives: Space Station

In the four months between January 1 and May 1, 2021, a startling 836 satellites were launched into orbit, pushing the total number of active satellites to more than 4,000 for the first time. That is on top of a single-year increase of 925 operating satellites in 2020 and 304 in 2019, an accelerating growth pattern that has been building since 2014. Given theplansof companies like Starlink, dramatic increases in numbers of satellites seem destined to continue, although the rate of change will almost certainly decline.

UCS has tracked the number of operating satellites circulating the globe since 2005, and regularly releases our UCS Satellite Database, free to the public, with a good deal of supplemental data. Our latest release of the database finds that, as of May 1, the total number operational satellites in Earth orbit is 4,084, adding the 836 new satellites launched and subtracting roughly 120 that ceased operations since our last report.

At some point, this acceleration will slow down, as the current exponential growth pattern is not sustainable. The acceleration reflects the deployment of major constellations of satellites that will be maintained but not massively expanded. However, even with a slowdown in the rate of increase, total numbers are certain to continue to expand, and that could have implications for the planet.

In particular, it increases the likelihood of collisions between objects in space, which can create more space debris and increase the chance of additional collisions. Just last year, acollision nearly happenedbetween a dead Russian satellite and an old Chinese rocket body. That followed the2009 collisionbetween an operating US satellite and a decommissioned Russian satellite, one that led to at least 823 large pieces of debris at the time. If a chain reaction does happen in space, it could significantly affect society, as more and more elements of our everyday lives rely on space-based communications and data.

As of May 1, there were nearly 1,500 Starlink satellites in orbit, with 550 having been added during the first four months of 2021. In April the Federal Communications Commissionapproved a change in Starlinks licensethat allowed it to operate more satellites at a lower orbit than had previously been permitted. The constellation will now operate at an altitude of 540 and 570 kilometers, and not higher than 580 kilometers. The limit of 580 was a condition requested by Amazon to avoid close approaches to its Project Kuiper satellites, and accepted by SpaceX.

A number of astronomical associations, concerned about the impact that Starlink has had on astronomical observations,requested that the FCC perform an environmental assessmentof the Starlink constellation. This request was denied, but the FCC did encourage SpaceX to continue to work closely with astronomers to mitigate the brightness of its satellites.

One new trend does not impact the UCS count of operating satellites: we do not track objects that only pass through space temporarily, so billionaires or others who might fly up briefly and then return to ground will not increase our satellite numbers. However, it is worth noting some news related to space stations, which are counted.

Chinas space stationOn April 29 the first and core component of Chinas Space Station Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) was placed into orbit. Named Tianhe (Harmony of Heavens), this first module will serve as the control center and living quarters of the station. Two more modules that will function as laboratories will be launched in 2022. The space station will be able to host three crew members at a time. China has declared that Tiangong willbe open to host non-Chinese crews and science projects, andnine other nationshave already signed on to fly experiments aboard Tiangong, which has an expected life of 15 years.

International space station and space tourismThe International Space Station (ISS) isscheduled to be decommissioned in 2024, with the possibility of anextension to 2028. In the meantime, plans for orbital tourism are moving ahead. Russias Roskosmos State Corporation has been reviewing a business plan forthe addition of a high-comfort module to the ISS, a luxury orbital suite parked at the ISS offering private cabins with big windows, personal hygiene facilities, exercise equipment and even Wi-Fi. Space tourists will have an opportunity for space walks accompanied by a professional cosmonaut.

The trip, one to two weeks in duration, will cost $40 million per person. If the tourist wishes to extend the stay to a full month and include the space walk, it would cost an additional $20 million. How far these plans will progress is dependent onsignificant factors.

Those trips, however, would not be counted in our satellite database.

Finally, kudos to my colleague, Teri Grimwood,UCS Satellite Database researcher, for tracking down 28 pieces of information for each of these 4084 satellites. If youd like email notification when the updates are made, please sign uphere.

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The Number of Active Satellites in Space Skyrockets . . . Literally - All Things Nuclear

July 26, 2021

By Mehmet S. Tosun, Professor and Director of International Programs, The College of Business at the University of Nevada, Reno

Recent developments related to Space are simply astonishing. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, went to space just a few days ago on July 20, 2021 on Blue Origins New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin is a space tourism company founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000. In addition to the brother of Jeff Bezos (Mark Bezos), the two other passengers in the trip were Wally Funk (82), who became the oldest person to go to space and Oliver Daemen (18), who became the youngest to reach space.

Another billionaire, Richard Branson, also did a similar trip just nine days before on July 11 on the Virgin Galactic space plane, VSS Unity. Branson also received a license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for future commercial space flights, paving the way for many individuals to become space tourists (and astronauts) in the near future. According to a recent report, there are about 600 people who are waiting to go to space at a ticket price of $250,000. People who paid a deposit to reserve their seat are thought to include celebrities like Elon Musk, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga and Leonardo Di Caprio, among many others. Branson, Bezos and accompanying passengers were not the first space tourists in history but the most recent ones. The first space tourist, Dennis Tito, paid $20 million to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2001. There are also many business developments related to space other than space tourism. Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, started a new commercial space company called Sierra Space in 2021. SNCs Dream Chaser is referred to as a space utility vehicle with the ability to take cargo and crew to low-earth-orbit (LEO) and land smoothly on runways, which is critical for sensitive cargo items such as science experiments. It is planning its first flight to the International Space Station in 2022.

Recent interest in space tourism and space economy more broadly by so many is quite remarkable. In his recent book Space is Open for Business, Robert C. Jacobson notes that space is not just a plan or a project but an ecosystem, an organic, multi-path process involving hundreds or thousands of independent entities, all working in their own ways to succeed in their field of endeavor. (Jacobson, 2020, p. 41) The size of the entire space ecosystem is already big but expected to grow exponentially in coming years and decades. While there is not an easy way to measure the size of the space economy, recent estimates put it at close to $400 billion. According to a Morgan Stanley report, the global space industry may triple in size to more than $1 trillion by 2040. According to a CNBC article, a Bank of America forecast shows the space economy reaching about $1.4 trillion by 2030.

It is also important to note that recent efforts are largely private initiatives. People are now talking about an era of space entrepreneurship that involves not just those renowned companies owned by billionaires but also smaller, less-known businesses and startups. According to the European Space Agency (ESA), there have been more than 900 space related startups that were supported by their Business Incubation Centers and intensive entrepreneurship programs. At the same time, governments have always been involved in space programs, for good reason. In addition to the excessively large investments needed for space-related programs, space involves a number of public goods (e.g. national security, maintaining peace, scientific explorations) and externalities (e.g. orbital congestion from satellites and space debris). Markets may not work well in situations involving public goods or externalities, warranting government intervention. Space is seen as a global commons, where commons is defined as a resource that is open to a community without any individual ownership. In commons situations, when private parties act only in their own interest with profit motive, they may overuse and harm the resource, leading to what is called the tragedy of the commons. Space debris, with a total of 128 million pieces of space junk in LEO, could create a tragedy of the space commons. Problems like this require involvement of not just one but many governments and private sector players to figure out long-term solutions. We are definitely seeing a more decentralized space economy with greater private involvement now compared to the centralized government-led programs from few decades ago. However, better coordination between private parties and governments will be key to a healthy space economy in the future.

Note: It is rather difficult to say exactly where the atmosphere ends and space starts. A widely accepted definition uses what is called the Krmn line, which is at 62 miles (or 100 km) above sea level, as the boundary for space. According to NASA and the U.S. military, space starts at 50 miles (or 80 km) above sea level. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides a good summary on the definitions and more. Richard Branson and his crew in VSS Unity flew to an altitude of 53.5 miles, whereas Jeff Bezos and other passengers in Blue Origin flew to 66.5 miles.

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The Business and Economics of Space | International Blog | College of Business - Nevada Today

The International Space Station is getting mobile robot space avatars controllable by the public from Earth, courtesy of a joint project between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and ANA Holdings telepresence start-up avatarin.

The project will create a virtual remote space tourism experience aimed at those who can't afford to hitch a ride with Jeff Bezos or Richard Branson.

JAXAs press release reads:

This isnt the first collaboration between JAXA and avatarin. The duo collaborated last year resulting in a technology demonstration of virtual experience enabling robots onboard the KIBO module of the ISS.

The new project builds on that technology demonstration increasing the role of robots onboard the ISS with a new type of avatar that will act as a co-worker for astronauts on the station and on other settings like the moon. Avatars working in this capacity will have high-precision hands. Other avatars will be all about an entertainment experience .

In addition to the two new types of avatars, the project will use an existing type of avatar robot called newme as education and public relations tools, giving virtual tours and nurturing interest in space exploration from Earth.

avatarin will provide the avatars and telepresence tech; JAXA will bring its space experience, knowledge and facilities; and a third party, the University of Tokyo School of Engineering, will pitch in by developing a self-position estimation system.

None of the parties are saying when the avatars will become available for a spot of tele-tourism, but their aspirations already exceed ISS experiences and aim at "possible robotics technologies that can be effectively deployed in future space exploration missions."

And seeing as JAXA has twice landed on asteroids, we may be in for quite a ride.

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Japan plans remote-controlled robotic space tourism to the ISS and beyond - The Register

The International Space Station (ISS) is preparing to take delivery of the European Robotic Arm (ERA) later this week.

The 11-meter-long robot launched on a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 21, and is scheduled to dock with the ISS on Thursday.

Due to its large size, the ERA was folded into a more compact shape prior to loading, and then attached to what will be its home base at the ISS the new Multipurpose Laboratory Module, also called Nauka.

The space station is already home to two robotic arms from Canada and Japan. While extremely useful for docking procedures and assisting astronauts on spacewalks, neither of these arms can reach the Russian segment of the orbiting outpost. But the ERA will be able to do just that.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the new robotic arm will also be the first with the ability to walk around the outside of the ISS by moving hand-over-hand between fixed base-points.

Moving hand-over-hand around the Russian parts of the station, the ERA will bring more freedom, more flexibility, and more skills to space operations, said David Parker, ESA director of human and robotic exploration.

Itll also be the first robotic arm at the ISS thats able to be controlled by crew members both inside and outside the station.

The robots main tasks will be to handle experiment payloads and other components, transport spacewalkers between locations outside the station like a cherry-picker crane, and carry out inspection work of the stations exterior using its four built-in cameras. During its activities, the ERA will be able to handle components weighing up to 8,000kg with an impressive 5mm precision.

First, though, the ERA needs to be set up. Current ISS astronaut Thomas Pesquet will help prepare the robot for installation, with incoming astronauts Matthias Maurer and Samantha Cristoforetti conducting the first of five spacewalks to fully deploy the device.

The ERA is the work of a consortium of 22 European companies from seven countries. It was actually designed more than three decades ago and was supposed to head to the ISS long before now, but technical issues kept it grounded for longer than expected.

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An arm made for walking is about to arrive at the space station - Digital Trends

A new chapter in space travel is here, but one astronaut tells KCCI it won't be available to most Iowans for a while.Clayton Anderson is a retired astronaut who teaches at Iowa State University. Hes been watching the past couple weeks as competing billionaires launched themselves into space. Anderson says it's exciting, but not achievable for all. He says it's only available to the extremely wealthy right now.He says the idea is that they will continue to launch flights, and prices will come down. Anderson hopes that will actually happen.Meanwhile, he's already incorporated commercial flights into his curriculum at Iowa State University. The retired astronaut teaches intro to aerospace engineering."The key here is that they're developing new technologies. Virgin Galactic did it one way, and Blue Origin did it another way. Totally different approaches to the same, similar problem, and when you do that sort of thing, you develop new technology, and that's where humans on Earth will benefit," Anderson said.Anderson says he wants more people from the Midwest to be considered as astronauts someday. He's specifically rooting for his students at ISU.He believes ISU is the only institution with a retired astronaut, retired fighter pilot and retired NASA space station flight director on their faculty in aerospace engineering.

A new chapter in space travel is here, but one astronaut tells KCCI it won't be available to most Iowans for a while.

Clayton Anderson is a retired astronaut who teaches at Iowa State University. Hes been watching the past couple weeks as competing billionaires launched themselves into space.

Anderson says it's exciting, but not achievable for all. He says it's only available to the extremely wealthy right now.

He says the idea is that they will continue to launch flights, and prices will come down. Anderson hopes that will actually happen.

Meanwhile, he's already incorporated commercial flights into his curriculum at Iowa State University. The retired astronaut teaches intro to aerospace engineering.

"The key here is that they're developing new technologies. Virgin Galactic did it one way, and Blue Origin did it another way. Totally different approaches to the same, similar problem, and when you do that sort of thing, you develop new technology, and that's where humans on Earth will benefit," Anderson said.

Anderson says he wants more people from the Midwest to be considered as astronauts someday. He's specifically rooting for his students at ISU.

He believes ISU is the only institution with a retired astronaut, retired fighter pilot and retired NASA space station flight director on their faculty in aerospace engineering.

See more here:
Retired astronaut hopes commercial space flight will be open for all - KCCI Des Moines

An autonomous robotic arm is readying to fly to the International Space Station to service its Russian segment.

The European Robotic Arm (ERA), built by European aerospace company Airbus for the European Space Agency (ESA), will fly to the orbital outpost on July 15 together with the new Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module, also known as Nauka (the Russian word for science). Airbus engineers have already installed the lightweight arm onto the module, ahead of its launch from the Russian Space Agency Roscomos' Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Proton rocket, Airbus said in a statement.

The robot resembles a pair of compasses with two symmetrical arms, each a little over 16 feet (5 meters) long. Fitted with a dexterous hand at the end of each arm, ERA will be able to move freely outside of the space station, attaching itself wherever it's needed, ESA said in a statement.

Related: Space station robotic arm hit by orbital debris in 'lucky strike' (video)

Weighing only 1,390 lbs. (630 kilograms), thanks to its lightweight aluminum and carbon-fiber structure, the arm will be able to move and install components up to 17,600 lbs. (8,000 kg) in weight while being able to reach targets with 5 millimeter precision. But it could also transport astronauts and cosmonauts during spacewalks from one working site to another.

Astronauts and cosmonauts will be able to either control the arm in real time from inside the space station or pre-program it to carry out tasks autonomously.

The arm also has an additional computer in the middle, which could be used by astronauts and cosmonauts to enter instructions during spacewalks.

Fitted with an infrared camera, ERA can inspect the space stations structure and components and stream its view to the astronauts and cosmonauts inside the orbiting lab.

With two decades of development, the arm was built by a consortium of European companies led by Airbus, which then assembled the robot at its facilities in the Netherlands.

The International Space Station already has two robotic arms: the 17m-long Canadarm2 and the 10m-long Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System. However, neither of these can reach the Russian segment of the space station.

Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Europe will launch a new two-handed robotic arm to the International Space Station soon - Space.com

SpaceXs Cargo Dragon capsule departs the International Space Station Thursday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now

A SpaceX cargo capsule undocked from the International Space Station Thursday and headed for splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico after a two-day delay to wait for Tropical Storm Elsa to clear the area.

Flying in autopilot mode, the Cargo Dragon capsule backed away from the space stations Harmony module at 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT) Thursday as the complex sailed more than 250 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean.

The spacecraft fired thrusters to depart the vicinity of the space station, setting the stage for re-entry and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico south of Tallahassee, Florida, at around 11:29 p.m. EDT Friday (0329 GMT Saturday).

The unpiloted supply ship spent 33 days at the space station since docking there June 5, two days after launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission set to end Friday is SpaceXs 22nd round-trip cargo delivery flight to the space station since 2012. NASA has contracts with SpaceX and Northrop Grumman to fly commercial resupply missions to the station.

On the trip up to the space station, the Dragon capsule delivered more than 7,300 pounds (3,300 kilograms) of cargo, including experiments and upgraded solar arrays. Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet installed and unfurled the roll-out solar arrays on three spacewalks last month.

After unpacking the ships pressurized cargo cabin, the station astronauts loaded some 5,300 pounds (2,400 kilograms) of research specimens, experiments, and other equipment for return to Earth, according to a NASA spokesperson.

Experiments coming back to Earth include a pharmaceutical investigation from Eli Lilly and Company looking at how gravity affects freeze-dried materials. On Earth, freeze-drying medications for long-term storage results in layers with structural differences, and scientists want to know whether specimens freeze-dried in microgravity on the space station have a different structure.

The Dragon capsule is also returning an experiment evaluating how gravity affects the structure, composition, and activity of oral bacteria. The data could help design treatments to combat oral diseases on long-term space missions to the moon and Mars, according to NASA.

Leah Cheshier, a NASA spokesperson, said the Dragon capsule is also returning to Earth with spacewalk equipment, including a pistol grip tool, torque wrench, cooling garments, water sampling kits, and spacesuit components, such as gloves.

I want to say thanks to all the SpaceX and NASA teams and all the scientists, engineers, and researchers who have equipment on this vehicle, Kimbrough said after the Dragon spacecraft departed the station Thursday. It was a great vehicle. It kept us busy for this past month doing a bunch of great science.

The Dragon spacecraft will jettison its disposable trunk section at 10:41 p.m. EDT Friday (0241 GMT Saturday). The unpressurized trunk hosts the ships power-generating solar arrays.

The capsule will fire its Draco thrusters at 10:45 p.m. EDT (0245 GMT) for a nine-minute deorbit burn to slow the crafts velocity enough to drop back into the atmosphere.

After plunging through the atmosphere, with a heat shield to protect against scorching temperatures, the Dragon capsule will deploy four parachutes a few minutes before splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico at 11:29 p.m. EDT (0329 GMT).

SpaceXs Go Navigator recovery ship will be standing by near the Dragon capsules splashdown zone south of Tallahassee. SpaceX crews will pull the spacecraft out of the sea and begin unpacking time-sensitive cargo, including experiment freezers to preserve sensitive samples returned from the space station.

The experiments will be ferried to shore via helicopter, allowing scientists to quickly begin analyzing the results.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Dragon cargo ship departs space station and heads for Earth Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Chinese astronauts Tang Hongbo, Nie Haisheng, and Liu Boming during ceremony before heading to Tiangong. Image via Roman Pilipey/ EPA/ The Conversation.

Gareth Dorrian, University of Birmingham and Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University

Three astronauts on Chinas new space station have just performed the countrys first space walk and are busy configuring the module for future crews. Named Tiangong (heavenly palace), the station is the Chinese National Space Agencys (CNSA) signature project to develop Chinas ambitions for having humans in orbit around Earth for a long amount of time.

In planning since the late 1990s, the Tiangong stations core module, Tianhe (heavenly river and the old Chinese name for the Milky Way), launched on April 29. But it isnt yet complete. Yang Liwei, chief designer of Chinas human spaceflight program, has said the astronauts:

have a lot of tasks to do after entering the core module. For screws alone, they have over 1,000 to remove.

Much like the former Russian space station Mir and the International Space Station, the entire project is too large to be put into orbit in one launch. Tianhe, weighing 22.5 tonnes, was lofted to an orbit of 400km above Earth on a Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang launch site on the island of Hainan, China. The Long March 5B is a heavy lift rocket with a thrust in between the SpaceX rockets Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.

The core module contains everything needed to keep people alive in space. This includes life support systems, a kitchen, sleeping and sanitation areas, electrical power management and firefighting equipment. To help sustain the three astronauts on their six-day working week, the kitchen is currently well stocked with over 120 different types of food. The core module is also equipped with docking ports. These will enable future modules, astronaut flights and robotic cargo re-supply capsules to dock.

To prepare for Tiangong, China launched two test space stations, Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2. The first of these, launched in 2011, was visited multiple times by Chinese astronauts, who tested docking procedures with cargo craft. After the station was decommissioned in 2016, CNSA lost contact with it. While the agency was able to track the station, it could not control the re-entry impact point culminating in a fiery return to Earth that angered the US.

Tiangong-2, launched in 2016, was a shorter-lived test station designed to assess living conditions in orbit, including growing food and measuring radiation levels. This station had a controlled descent, burning up over the Pacific Ocean in 2019.

Aside from the core module, the pressurized modules of the current Tiangong space station will consist of two laboratories, Mengtian (heavenly dreams) and Wentian (heavenly quest), which will be launched over the next few years. The design of each of these laboratory modules will be based on Tiangong-2s facilities.

Unlike the International Space Station, where the bulk of electrical power to all modules is supplied by large solar arrays on purpose-built gantries, on Tiangong each module launched carries its own solar array.

Once complete, Tiangong will weigh over 60 tonnes, be capable of hosting three astronauts for extended stays in space, and will have the capacity to support future spacewalks and science experiments. These can be mounted both inside the pressurized modules or on deployable racks outside in space.

International collaboration is a significant part of the project. For example, astronauts from the European Space Agency (ESA) trained with Chinese astronauts in ocean survival. In the event that astronauts ever had to leave an orbiting space station and return to Earth quickly, there is a high chance they would land in water and would need to survive until rescue. ESAs long term goal with such training would be that it will one day enable its astronauts to fly aboard Chinese space missions.

More recently, nine international science experiments have been selected by CNSA for installation aboard Tiangong in the coming years. The agency received 42 applications of interest from many different countries. Of those selected, experiments include POLAR-2, a sensor designed to study the light from gamma ray bursts, which are some of the most powerful explosions in the universe. Another is Tumours in Space, a project lead by researchers in Norway, which will look at how the microgravity and radiation environment of space affects the growth of tumours.

With another platform for humans to live long-term in orbit, we hope that the amazing success of the International Space Station will be replicated on the Tiangong station. The experience that the astronauts gain will no doubt be invaluable for planning future lunar and Martian exploration efforts. Recently, Russia and China unveiled a roadmap for the International Lunar Research Station. This project will involve numerous robotic lunar orbiters and landers, and will culminate in a human-crewed research facility, either in lunar orbit or on the surface. This project, if successful, could see Chinese and Russian astronauts based on the Moon from the 2030s.

Tiangong is one of a number of notable successes for the Chinese space program in recent years. These include the first lunar sample-return mission since the 1970s, and the countrys first robotic lander on the Martian surface, complete with rover, which successfully touched down in May this year. In the new space race, China is clearly a real contender.

Gareth Dorrian, Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science, University of Birmingham and Ian Whittaker, Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: Astronauts are preparing Chinas new space station, Tiangong, to be inhabited by future space crews. They performed Chinas first space walk on July 4, 2021.

Via The Conversation

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Tiangong: China's new space station. What to expect - EarthSky

While many Americans will celebrate the Fourth of July with a day off from work, astronauts at the International Space Station are spending their holiday preparing for a cargo ship's return to Earth.

As federal employees, U.S. astronauts typically have Sundays off. Because July 4 falls on a Sunday this year, the federal holiday is officially observed on Monday (July 5) instead. But with a SpaceX Dragon cargo freighter scheduled to depart the space station Tuesday (July 6), there's not much time to lounge around.

Instead, the crew "will be working on Monday, primarily to finish up experiments and get ready for Dragon's departure," NASA spokesman Dan Huot told Space.com in an email. "As usual, if the crew does miss out on an off-day/holiday the teams will work to find a day-off for them down the road."

Related: Holidays in space: an astronaut photo album

The astronauts are of course barred from lighting any fireworks inside the orbiting laboratory, but they can still spend their Sunday relaxing with their families via video chat.

Of the seven crewmembers currently living and working on board the International Space Station, three are NASA astronauts: Shane Kimbrough, Meghan McArthur and Mark Vande Hei. Also on board are two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.

The three U.S. crewmembers, along with Pesquet and Hoshide, have spent several days preparing the Dragon cargo spacecraft for its return to Earth. On Monday they will finish loading critical research samples inside the Dragon. Those various research samples will be analyzed by scientists on Earth after the Dragon splashes down.

SpaceX's cargo ship is scheduled to undock from the station at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT) Tuesday, and it will splash down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida about two days later, according to NASA.

The cargo ship arrived at the station June 5 to deliver supplies and science experiments for the Expedition 65 crew, including new solar arrays that astronauts have been working to install with a series of spacewalks.

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No long weekend this Fourth of July holiday for American astronauts in space - Space.com

Almost a decade after retiring from NASA, Michael Lpez-Alegra is once again strapping in to launch to the final frontier.

Lpez-Alegra, who was born in Spain and grew up in California , was a U.S. Navy engineer, then a pilot and then a NASA astronaut, racking up three space shuttle missions, one long-term stint on board the International Space Station and a total of 10 spacewalks to-date. After retiring from NASA in 2012, he went on to explore the commercial spaceflight sector, more recently becoming the vice president of business development for the Houston-based spaceflight company Axiom Space.

Now, the 62-year-old Lpez-Alegra is taking his passion for commercial spaceflight to the next level by returning to space aboard Axiom's Ax-1 mission, an entirely-private orbital space mission set to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as soon as January 2022.

"It's a dream come true," Lpez-Alegra told Space.com in an exclusive interview.

Related: NASA and Axiom ink deal for 1st private astronaut mission to space station

"My decision to return [to space] was not hard at all," Lpez-Alegra said. "They asked a question and I answered promptly with, 'Hell yes.' So it was an easy decision. It was very easy."

When Lpez-Alegra first started working with Axiom a few years ago, "this flying part was never part of that conversation," he said. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting anything like this. When I left NASA, I was pretty content with my career and ready to do something different."

After leaving NASA, in addition to his work with Axiom, Lpez-Alegra also served as the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), a private spaceflight industry group that works to promote commercial human spaceflight and safety in this sector. He also served on different advisory boards regarding human spaceflight and commercial spaceflight, including the Human Exploration and Operations Committee of the NASA Advisory Council and the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Lpez-Alegra is also currently the chairman of ASTM International's Committee on Commercial Spaceflight and president of the Association of Space Explorers USA, an organization of former astronauts.

"I've been kind of advocating for democratizing space, and while this isn't quite yet democratic, it's a step in that direction. And I couldn't be more proud and satisfied to be part of it," he said.

Lpez-Alegra's journey with commercial spaceflight began in the leadup to his last spaceflight, a mission to the space station that launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in September 2006..

"When I was preparing for my last mission, I flew with a spaceflight participant that turned out to be Anousheh Ansari, and I was very affected by the time that we spent training and then flying together," Lpez-Alegra said. "She was practicing something brand-new back then called blogging, from space, and a lot of people on the ground were paying attention to what was happening in orbit that otherwise would not have cared."

"That planted the seed of this idea of, of the democratization of space," Lpez-Alegra added. "And when the Commercial Spaceflight Federation called about working for them. I had gone from being a skeptic, which I was before that experience with Anousheh, to being a full-blown advocate."

Also, "my time at CSF helped convince me that the commercial space sector is an important part of human spaceflight, and to really champion its advancement," he added.

Lpez-Alegra shared that he hopes that, in 10 years, the future commercial spaceflight industry will become "a robust, vibrant economy in low Earth orbit that is self-sustaining, with only minimal participation from the government as a customer."

Some people throw around the term "space tourism" pretty loosely when talking about new developments and future commercial spaceflight missions. But Lpez-Alegra clarified what he believes commercial spaceflight really is, and why he thinks it's different from what some call "space tourism."

"This is too often called space tourism," he said. "And I would say it is not tourism at all; it's real work that requires a lot of preparation. And I don't think it'll be relaxing. I think it'll be an amazing experience, but one that is fulfilling because of not only the environment you're in, but also what the private astronauts will accomplish."

He added that commercial spaceflight missions like Ax-1, which will see Lpez-Alegra launch alongside American real estate and technology entrepreneur Larry Connor, business professional and former Israeli pilot Eytan Stibbe and Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy to the International Space Station for a 10-day mission.

According to Lpez-Alegra, missions like this will be like NASA missions to the space station, "and by no means what I'd equate to a leisurely tourism adventure," he said. "It's much more than that."

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Former NASA astronaut's return to space on private Axiom flight will be 'a dream come true' (exclusive) - Space.com