Crew of private astronauts pay $55 million each to visit Space Station – Chron

A private crew of three men is scheduled to spend eight days at the International Space Station (ISS) after they each paid $55 million to join the new Ax-1 mission from Houston-based company Axiom Space.

Three men from three different countries will make the historic trip led by former NASA astronaut and Axiom vice-president Michael Lpez-Alegra, in what is "The first private ISS crew in the history of humankind," Axiom said in a tweet.

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According to an Axiom press release, the trip is scheduled for January 2022 and includes a multi-national crew made up of American Larry Connor, an entrepreneur, and non-profit activist investor, Canadian investor and philanthropist, Mark Pathy, and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe.

The first launch of the Ax-1 mission will fly on a SpaceX Crew Dragon led by mission commander Lpez-Alegra who called the group a "collection of pioneers," according to the press release.

"We sought to put together a crew for this historic mission that had demonstrated a lifelong commitment to improving the lives of the people on Earth, and I'm glad to say we've done that with this group," Axiom Space President and CEO Michael Suffredini said in the press release.

"The humanitarian leaders will lay the groundwork for a full realization of low Earth Orbit's possibilities," Axiom said

Axiom Space refers to the men as "Axionauts" and has plans to work with each of them to perform on-orbit research according to their mission goals.

Some of the research includes Connor collaborating with the Mayo Clinic; Pathy will be working with the Montreal Childrens Hospital on health-related research; while Stibbe plans to conduct research for Israeli researchers and do educational activities from orbit, according to the media release.

Each of the men will have to undergo 15 weeks of Axiom training and they will also have to pass medical tests, according to Suffredini.

"70-year-old Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenn's shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77," Marcia Dunn with the Associated Press said.

Axiom intends to offer two private missions per year to the ISS and plans to construct its own privately-funded space station.

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Crew of private astronauts pay $55 million each to visit Space Station - Chron