In the first fully commercial trip to the International Space Station, SpaceX blasted three businessmen into space on Friday.
The guys will spend more than a week in space, accompanied by their astronaut bodyguard, as NASA joins Russia in entertaining visitors to the world’s most costly tourist attraction.
After two years of transporting humans to the orbiting laboratory on NASA’s behalf, Friday’s launch marks SpaceX’s first private charter voyage to the space station.
Three astronauts from the United States, Canada, and Israel will arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday after each spending $55 million (£42 million) for the rocket voyage and housing, which included all meals.
The trip, which was organised by the Houston-based corporation Axiom Space, took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:17 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
After reaching orbit, crewmember Michael López-Alegra, a retired NASA astronaut who is now the vice president of business development for Axiom Space, radioed to mission controllers, saying, “Wow, that was a heck of a trip.”
Visitors’ passes provide access to all areas of the space station save the Russian section, and three Americans and a German are also stationed aboard the space station.
For decades, Russia has welcomed visitors to the International Space Station (ISS), and before that, to the Mir space station.
Earlier this year, a Russian film crew arrived by plane, followed by a Japanese fashion entrepreneur and his personal assistant.
NASA has finally agreed to let guests to the space station after years of protesting the practise.
Mr Lopez-Alegria has stated that he intends to refrain from discussing politics and the Russia-Ukraine conflict while inside the space station.
He stated, “I’m not going to lie, I’m not going to lie.” “I honestly don’t believe it will be awkward at all. I’m talking about a teeny-tiny amount “,,,,,,
However, he went on to say that he believes the “spirit of teamwork will show through.”
A former fighter pilot from Israel, Eytan Stibbe founded Vital Capital with his business partner Larry Connor of Dayton, Ohio. Pathy is the founder and CEO of Montreal’s Mavrik Corp. and Connor is the CEO of the Connor Group.
Mr Stibbe showed his joy ahead of the launch by performing a little dance when he arrived to the rocket at the Kennedy Space Center on the day of the flight.
The business community is the most recent group to take advantage of the expansion of available space to those who can afford it, according to the New York Times.
Blue Origin, the rocket business founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is now sending passengers on 10-minute flights to the edge of space, while Virgin Galactic expects to begin flying customers on its rocket ship later this year.
The astronaut, Mr. Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months on the International Space Station 15 years ago, said that SpaceX and NASA had been transparent with the passengers about the hazards of space flight.
The Associated Press quoted him as saying before the flight: “I don’t think there’s any haze about what the hazards are or what the awful days may look like.”
Every visitor has a plethora of experiments to carry out during their stay, which is one of the reasons they don’t appreciate being referred to as “space tourists” (as some do).
“They’re not up there to stick their noses in the windows,” said Michael Suffredini, co-founder and president of Axiom.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is launching its second private charter mission on Friday. Last year, the company sent a millionaire and his entourage into orbit for three days.
Axiom plans to launch its second private spacecraft to the International Space Station next year. Following that, Axiom will begin building its own rooms to the orbiting complex in 2024, which will allow for even more customer excursions.
The autonomous SpaceX spacecraft is scheduled to return with the four astronauts on April 19.
