Axiom Space Launches Ax-2 Mission Crew to the ISS

Axiom Space Company has revealed its plans for the upcoming launch of a four-member crew on their second mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The crew members will spend a little over a week in the orbital laboratory, where they will conduct various experiments.

The crew will be transported to the ISS by a Falcon 9 rocket inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule called Freedom. The flight will take off from the Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre located in Florida on Sunday at 5:37 p.m. ET.

You can watch the live coverage of the liftoff on NASA’s website and YouTube channel starting at 5 p.m. ET. Axiom Space will also broadcast the event on its website.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has set the timetable for the Dragon spacecraft to linkup and dock with the Harmony module of the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday at 9:24 a.m.

The second Axiom mission, known as Ax-2, the team consists of Commander Peggy Whitson, an experienced NASA astronaut, Pilot John Shoffner, a passionate space enthusiast who bought a ticket for the mission, and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, who are part of Saudi Arabia’s inaugural class of astronauts.

During their approximately eight-day stay on the space station, the Ax-2 crew will collaborate with the existing ISS crew members. They will engage in various scientific research and experiments, including one focused on studying how microgravity affects the production of stem cells.

Ax-2 is the mission that comes after Axiom Space’s initial flight to the space station, which happened in April 2022. The private enterprise has already begun to prepare for the launch of its third ISS mission later this year.