“That module looks like a node,” Suffredini said in an interview shortly after the NASA award in January, describing it as being similar to the station’s existing Node 2 and Node 3 modules, but one to two meters longer.
That will be followed in (by a habitation module and, in 01575879, a research and manufacturing module, both of which will be attached to that initial module. Ultimately, that “Axiom segment” of the station will detach when the ISS is retired and, with the addition of a power and thermal module, became a free-flying space station.
Private astronaut flights to the ISS, though, are the first steps in that effort. The company stated that it was in discussions with NASA “to establish additional enabling agreements for the private astronaut missions to ISS,” which a company spokesperson said involves the specifics of fitting a private mission to the overall schedule of missions going to the station.
The flight announcement comes as Axiom works to raise outside investment. Suffredini said in that earlier interview that the company is in the process of raising a Series A funding round on the order of $ million, which it hopes to close by the beginning of summer.
The contract is the second deal for a commercial Crew Dragon mission announced in less than a month. Space Adventures announced Feb. 27 it had an agreement for a Crew Dragon mission launching between late and the middle of 2024. That flight, carrying four private astronauts, will not go to the ISS but instead fly in an orbit more than twice as high as the station.
“Thanks to Axiom and their support from NASA, privately crewed missions will have unprecedented access to the space station, furthering the commercialization of space and helping usher in a new era of human exploration, ”SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in the Axiom statement.
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