According to the agreement signed with the American company Axiom Space, the Hungarian government will send a “private astronaut” aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024. Initially, such cooperation was initiated with Roscosmos (the Russian space agency), but it seems that the financial offer of the company Axiom Space was more beneficial for Hungary. Despite this, its flight will cost 100 million dollars, which is almost 5 times the annual contribution of Hungary to the European Space Agency.

It was the era of private cosmonauts

On April 8, 2022, Larry Connor, Etienne Stibbe and Marc Pati became the first “private astronauts”. This is exactly the formula Axiom Space has agreed upon for its clients who want to be seen as more than just space tourists, but at the same time recognize that they are not career astronauts. The Axiom-1 mission was commanded by veteran astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, and the four spent 15 days aboard the International Space Station.

Axiom Space brokers such commercial flights, leasing the Dragon capsule from SpaceX (along with the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, of course) and engaging the crew in activities on the space station while they’re there. It’s worth noting that Axiom Space’s CEO is Michael Saffredini, a former director of the ISS program at NAASA, and Charles Bolden, a former NASA administrator, also serves on the company’s board.

Unlike Blue Origin’s recreational flights, where tourists only spend a few seconds in space, Axiom Space offers the complete package: an orbital flight and two weeks aboard the ISS (the price difference, as you might expect, is head-to-head).

Axiom Space has big plans

Axiom Space wants to continue such missions, so it has already signed contracts with Turkey and Saudi Arabia to fly two tourists from each country on two missions planned for next year. Axiom-2 will be led by Peggy Whitson (NASA requires Axiom Space to have an experienced astronaut for each such mission), and in addition to the two Saudis (whose identities have not yet been released), American John Shoffner will also be included. to be in the Dragon capsule.

In the future, probably around 2025, Axiom Space plans to launch its own docking modules with the International Space Station to provide its own segment of the station to house future private astronauts. It is planned that after NASA decides to retire the ISS (after 2030), the Axiom modules will detach from it and operate independently as a commercial space station intended for orbital tourism. Some kind of space hotel.

And Axiom Space has also been selected by NASA to manufacture the suits of future astronauts for extravehicular activities aboard the ISS, as well as the suits that the Artemis astronauts will wear when they step on the moon.

The third Hungarian in orbit

For the flight of the Hungarian astronaut, the Hungarian government paid 100 million dollars, which is almost 5 times higher than the value of Hungary’s contribution to the budget of the European Space Agency. He will become the third Hungarian in space after Bertalan Farkas (who flew into orbit in 1980 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos program and reached orbit as part of the Soyuz-36 mission) and Charles Simoni (he has dual citizenship, Hungarian and American and twice flew into space as a tourist with Space Adventures in 2007 and 2009).

It remains to be seen whether the Hungarian tourist will fly before or after Tom Cruise, as the Hollywood actor is rumored to be filming a new movie aboard the ISS and will likely also be doing extra-ship activities (a detail that could be the reason for his flight’s delay).

The SpaceX fleet

SpaceX has a fleet of 4 reusable Dragon-2 capsules for crewed flights (Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom) and is in the process of building another one to be able to fulfill the contracts signed with NASA and satisfy the sector. private (Axiom Space) and to carry out its own missions with billionaire Jared Isaacman (Polaris missions) until Starship becomes a working vehicle and completely replaces Dragon capsules and Falcon 9 rockets.

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