Ax-1: why the private mission to the International Space Station is a game changer

The crew consisting of pilot Larry Connor of the United States, commander Michael López-Alegría of Spain and the United States, and mission specialists Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe from Canada and Israel. Axiom Space

It’s not long since billionaires were competing to get to the “edge of space”. Now, the first set of private citizens are getting ready to take a SpaceX shuttle up to the International Space Station (ISS). Unlike the short “joyrides” of Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, this mission will be reaching the roughly 400km altitude needed to dock with the ISS.

The mission by the US commercial aerospace company Axiom Space is a major step forward in private space travel, and is part of a plan to build a private space station. With Russia recently pulling out of collaborating on the ISS, the world will be watching to see whether the private sector can be trusted to provide reliable access to space for peaceful exploration.