The first-ever all civilian crew has launched a ten-day mission to the International Space Station. The crew lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday (April 8) morning.
The flight was organized by Houston-based company Axiom Space, which hopes to build commercial space stations in the future.
"This really does represent the first step where a bunch of individuals who want to do something meaningful in low Earth orbit — that aren't members of a government — are able to take this opportunity," Mike Suffredini, Axiom's CEO and the former program manager of the ISS at NASA, said during a press conference.
The commander of the crew is former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría. He is joined by three paying customers, American investor Larry Connor, Canadian investor Mark Pathy, and former Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe. They each paid a reported $55 million to travel to International Space Station.
"That was a hell of a ride," López-Alegría told mission control after reaching orbit.
After reaching orbit, the crew began a 20-hour ride to dock with the International Space Station.
The crew is expected to spend eight days aboard the station conducting science experiments, including research for the Mayo Clinic and the Montreal Children's Hospital.
Axiom Space has three more missions planned and expects to add a module to the International Space Station in 2024. Eventually, that module will break away and be used as a free-flying station.