1 of 5 | The Axiom 3 crew pose Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew includes (L to R) ESA astronaut Marcus Wandt, mission specialist Alper Gezeravci, pilot Walter Villadei and commander Michael Lopez-Alegria. SpaceX plans to launch the Axiom3 mission to the International Space Station on Thursday afternoon after the launch was scrubbed the day before. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo
SpaceX is planning a Thursday afternoon launch of Axiom Space’s manned mission to the International Space Station.
It will use the Dragon spacecraft to support the mission that previously flew Crew-4 and Ax-2 to the space station and back. It is scheduled to launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 4:49 p.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Advertisement
In case of a delay, SpaceX has a backup launch window of Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
The mission, the third private industry flight taking four astronauts to the orbiting space station laboratory was scrubbed Wednesday.
Axiom 3 has an all-European crew.
They are European Space Agency commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Italian pilot Water Villadei, Turkish mission specialist Alper Gezeravci and Swedish ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt.
Axiom Space said in a statement that this first all-European commercial astronaut mission “marks a new era of opportunity for countries to join the international space community and access low-Earth orbit to advance exploration and research in microgravity.” Advertisement
SpaceX said in a statement that, “During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct more than 30 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human physiology and technological industrial advancements.”
