NASA Successfully Launches Mission Ax-2, This Is What Four Private Astronauts Will Do on the ISS

JAKARTA - NASA successfully launched its second private astronaut flight mission today, at 04:37 a.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB) (17:37 p.m. EDT / May 21). Dubbed Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), it now carries four private astronauts.

The four astronauts include commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot John Shoffner, and Saudi Arabian astronauts Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi into orbit on a mission to carry out scientific research, outreach, and commercial activities. Barnawi is the first Saudi woman astronaut to travel to outer space.

Riding on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which propelled Ax-2's Dragon spacecraft, named Freedom, they took off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, USA.

The mission will carry all four to the International Space Station (ISS) which is scheduled to dock on the Harmony module at 09:16 a.m. local time.

Once on station, the Ax-2 crew will be received by Expedition 69 astronauts, including NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Stephen Bowen, and Woody Hoburg, United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Sergey Prokopyev and Andrey Fedyaev.

This is Axiom's second private manned launch to the ISS, following Ax-1 in April 2022. Launching Spaces, Monday, May 22, the fourth astronaut Ax-2 will stay for eight days on the ISS, and work alongside seven astronauts currently on the ISS but they will carry out independent research investigations.

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That research includes the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), which involves a series of tests and measurements of their own bodies.

TRISH's goal is to better understand how inexperienced astronauts react when they are first introduced to microgravity, and learn how to use that data to maximize their productivity during short trips to the ISS.

In addition to the TRISH experiment, Ax-2 astronauts will conduct research on more than 20 different projects and investigations. From DNA research, cancer to rain-producing cloud seeding and educational outreach offering STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) engagement around the world.