SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Ax-2 program. Aboard Crew Dragon are former NASA astronaut and first female ISS commander Peggy Whitson, businessman John Schoffner, Saudi Arabian astronauts Rayyan Barnavi and Ali al-Karni.
Mission participants will spend eight days on the station, during which they will work alongside its permanent crew. Docking with the ISS is scheduled for May 22 at 09:24 a.m. Eastern Time (4:24 p.m. Moscow time).
This is already the second commercial flight to the ISS under the program of the American company Axiom. The first mission took place in the spring of 2022. A third mission is planned for the end of 2023, during which the crew will spend two weeks on the station.
- In January 2023, SpaceX raised $750 million at a valuation of $137 billion and the round is expected to be led by Andreessen Horowitz. Elon Musk owns nearly 44% of SpaceX, which was founded in 2002. The company is developing the Starlink satellite network to provide broadband internet to Earth.
Author:
karina pardaeva
Source: RB
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