In a significant milestone, astronauts Michael López-Alegría, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt, and Alper Gezeravci of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) have successfully boarded the International Space Station (ISS) following the opening of Dragon’s hatch at 7:13 a.m. EST on Saturday, Jan. 20.
Docking Details:
Ax-3 achieved a successful docking with the orbital complex at 5:42 a.m., while flying 262 miles above the Pacific Ocean, west of South America. Notably, this marks the third mission with a fully private crew to arrive at the ISS, signifying a growing era of commercial space travel.
Joining Expedition 70 Crew:
The Axiom Space crew, now aboard the ISS, will join the current Expedition 70 crew members. This includes NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara, ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA astronaut Furukawa Satoshi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub.
Welcome Ceremony and Future Departure:
The next agenda on the station is a welcome ceremony, where ISS crew members will greet and integrate the Axiom Space team. The Axiom astronauts are scheduled to depart the space station on Feb. 3, contingent on weather conditions, for their return to Earth. The journey will culminate in a splashdown at a designated landing site off the coast of Florida. The Ax-3 mission signifies a step forward in the era of private space exploration and collaboration with established space agencies.
