(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to send the first all-European commercial crew to the International Space Station. This will be a landmark mission for a region that is yearning for a better year for space exploration after a series of setbacks.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:11 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
The Ax-3 mission is operated by Axiom Space Inc., a Houston-based company focused on developing commercial space stations and human spaceflight. This will be Axiom’s third manned mission to low Earth orbit, following its second spaceflight in May.
Wednesday’s flight will be commanded by Michael López-Alegría, who commanded Axiom’s first ISS mission in 2022, the Ax-1 mission. Italian Air Force pilot Walter Villaday and mission specialists Markus Wandt from Sweden and Alper Gezeravci from Turkey will also take part in the two-week mission.
The crew is scheduled to arrive at the orbiting laboratory approximately 402 kilometers above Earth around 5:15 a.m. New York time on January 19.
Wednesday’s launch came as Europe’s space industry struggles to get back into orbit due to delays. The Ariane 6 rocket is scheduled to launch this summer, four years behind schedule, while the Vega C rocket is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2022 following a failed mission.
“This year will be much better,” European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher said at his annual press conference last week.
©2024 Bloomberg LP