Axiom Space

What is Axiom Space?

In a big step for non-governmental companies and individuals to participate within the growing space industry, Axiom Space and SpaceX are leading the way with collaborative missions to the International Space Station (ISS).  

Most people will be familiar with SpaceX – the space design, manufacture and launch company founded by Elon Musk. While private company SpaceX have been and continue to operate the Axiom missions using their Crew Dragon capsule launched atop the steadfast Falcon 9 booster rocket, it is the new private space company Axiom Space that are behind the organisation of the missions.  

Founded in 2016, Axiom Space is a relatively young company aiming to make space travel more commercially available. They plan to support human spaceflight for both government-funded and private astronauts who propose to work on in-space research, in-space manufacturing, and other space exploration goals.

The Future of the ISS

The ISS has been a place of work and a home in space for over 250 astronauts that have visited since it first became inhabited in the year 2000. The first ISS component was launched in 1998 and from then we have learnt a lot about living in microgravity. It has given us the confidence and understanding to safely return to the Moon for long-term sustainable settlement with the Artemis Program which will see the first female walk on the lunar surface by the mid 2020s. This will be followed by creating the first settlement hub on a celestial object other than our Earth. 

Unfortunately, nothing can last forever – NASA published a transition report to “de-orbit” the station in January 2031. The modules will be separated and plunge back to Earth into the waters of Point Nemo. Latin for ‘no one’, Point Nemo is a remote area in the southern Pacific Ocean, as far from any inhabited place as possible and surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean in all directions. We have been using this location as a graveyard for retired spacecraft and satellites since the 1970s and at least 260 spacecraft have met their final fate there. 

With the ISS scheduled to be retiring within the decade, Axiom Space have a succession plan to create another space station. But this time it will be commercialised.  

Astronauts in the Twenty-First Century

After the completion of Axiom’s space station, the public will have an opportunity to become an astronaut and visit the ISS for a short stay. This will come at a hefty price tag which is not yet advertised by the start-up space company. The first mission crew members are mainly entrepreneurs and investors that have a passion for space and seeing our planet from a different perspective. 

With the increase in private and commercial spaceflight missions, it does beg the question of what it means to be an astronaut. While a basic definition includes a person who is trained and travels into space, in 2021 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) toughened its criteria, specifying that a crew has to actually do something to contribute to the spaceflight itself which exclude those who have travelled to space on autonomous flights.