The departure was postponed several times, however, Shortly before launch, SpaceX stated that 90 percent of the weather conditions were favorable for the launch of a launch vehicle whose equipment was working properly according to previous tests.
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And the start really went according to plan. Likewise, the subsequent landing of the first rocket stage on an autonomous landing pad in the Atlantic Ocean after the machine transported the cabin with people into orbit.
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They have to arrive on Saturday
“The Falcon 9 launch vehicle is scheduled to take off from the LC-39A launch pad with the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft to the Axiom-1 mission today (Friday) at 5:17 pm CET. Its destination is the ISS station, which will arrive at 12:45 CET on Saturday, ”summed up space designer Michal Václavík from the Czech Space Agency and the Czech Technical University in Prague a few hours before the start.
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(2/3) The Crew Dragon connects to the IDA 3 Zen Dock node located on the Harmony module. The crew of the Axiom-1 mission consists of the commander and professional astronaut Michael López-Alegría🇺🇸🇪🇸 and three space tourists – Larry Connor🇺🇸, Mark Pathy🇨🇦 and Etan Stibbe🇮🇱. pic.twitter.com/LBDT8dYdAz
– Michal Vaclavik (@Kosmo_Michal) April 8, 2022
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The Axiom-1 crew consists of a commander and professional astronaut, American Michael López-Alegría and three space tourists: American Larry Connor as a pilot and Canadian Mark Pathy and Israeli Eitan Stibbe as flight specialists. Each of the mentioned “tourist” trio paid $ 55 million (over 1.2 billion crowns) for their flight into space.
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The crew will spend about eight days on the ISS and will conduct more than 25 scientific, technological and educational experiments there.
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Crew Dragon cabin on the Falcon rocket
Foto: Twitter SpaceX
Disconnection from the orbital complex and landing back on Earth is planned for April 17, so the Axiom-1 crew will spend a total of nine to 9.5 days in space.
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Our # Ax1 crew is now seated in the Dragon spacecraft and will begin pre-launch checklists.
✔️comms check
✔️seats rotated
✔️suit leak checksNEXT: side hatch for flight will close for flight = key visual milestone on the timeline to liftoff! pic.twitter.com/rqdlcwyY0l
— Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) April 8, 2022
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Science in orbit
As for their scientific experiments, Connor will build on research he has helped fund at the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic over the past decade.
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It will study the effect of the cosmic path on heart health and on the so-called senescent cells – cells that have stopped dividing and are associated with many age-related diseases. He will also study the effects of microgravity during space flight on the spine and brain tissue.
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Pathy should take part in the historically first space demonstration of two-way holoportation – for remote communication with colleagues on Earth, he will use a mixed reality application with special lenses enabling 3D projection in the form of a hologram. It will also observe the Earth in the area of the effects of climate change.
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And Stibbe will conduct experiments in astrophysics, agriculture, optics, communications, biology, healthcare, neurology and ophthalmology.
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