This podcast is brought to you by Starship shirts.com. Find the coolest T's mugs and more inspired by Elon musk's Universe. Celebrate your love for SpaceX Tesla and Beyond and gear up with Starship shirts.com, where every purchase is a launch pad for adventure. Hi everybody and welcome back to the Elon Musk podcast. And in today's episode, we are going to embark on a journey to explore the groundbreaking Axiom space ex2 mission. Will they set the stories of the diverse Crew?
The crucial science will conduct aboard, the International Space Station, and how last-minute hurdles reshape this mission on May 21st. History was yet, made again as XE was space. The pioneering private spaceflight company launched its second private astronaut. Mission the crew Dragon spacecraft Christian Freedom took off from Kennedy Space. Center's launch complex 39, a born skywards. By a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and aboard the spacecraft. We're the foreperson aux two.
Astronauts ready to experience space freedoms departure marks. A new era in space travel and exploration is the second private. Astronaut Mission executed by X. IMA space the event illustrates the escalating Trend towards commercial Flight democratizing access to the Stars. It lifted off at 5:37 p.m. eastern time at the spacecraft and its trailblazing crew separated from the Rockets Upper stage and about 12 minutes after liftoff. The SpaceX engineer. Dragon spacecraft is set to dock
with the International Space Station on May 22nd around. 9:30 a.m. eastern time signifying. The beginning of the ax to cruise extraordinary Journey, the And its crew will inhabit the space station for an eight-day Mission. Engaging in a host of scientific commercial and exploratory activities leading. The ax 2 team is Peggy Whitson.
The former NASA astronaut who holds the distinguish u.s. record for longest cumulative, time and space totaling six hundred and sixty five days with stain is currently leveraging. Her considerable expertise as director of human space flight at Axiom. Steering the company's foray into the Frontier. Now joining with Senators, John shaffner a private astronaut who served as a backup for axioms.
Inaugural ax1 mission in 2022. Schaffner now takes the helm is pilot for a X2, contributing his wealth of experience and skill to the mission. The team is routed out by Mission specialist Alia, Carney and Rihanna or will now we 270 astronauts selected by the Saudi space Commission in February as part of the partnership agreed signed. With Axiom space in September of 2022. Now, those two are now just astronauts there.
Also, representatives of their Nation, becoming the second and third Saudi citizens to venture into space. They follow in the celestial, footsteps of Sultan bin Salman outside, who blazed the trail is a payload specialist on a space shuttle, mission in 1985 more significantly, or now he holds the prestigious title of the first female, Saudi astronauts marking a Mark moment for the nation space efforts.
Now while originally planned for a 10-day stint at the ISS, the a x2's mission duration was clipped 28 days due to a delayed Falcon heavy launch. And as the launch schedule tightened, Axiom space, and NASA made the mutual decision, to adjust the missions length fitting it into the bustling manifest of missions targeting the station. And despite the short timeline, Axiom space, maintains high,
expectations for the mission. Hesseman chief of mission integration and operations at exim, space assured in a May 15 briefing. That the company prioritize planned research activities, while cutting some low priority, Outreach activities, Saudi astronauts. Nevertheless, are expected to conduct a whole series of media events during the your ISS tenure including engaging, with students in interactive sessions. Now, before the emission reduction, the crew already
faced an extensive schedule. The team is prepared to October 20 experiments spanning various fields from Life Sciences to in space manufacturing. An axiom in its pursuit to develop commercial modules for the ISS, as a precursor for a standalone. Space station will also execute its own technology demonstration. Now, describing the mission Lucille. Oh Chief scientist had Axiom emphasized its intensity during
an April briefing. We have an absolutely jam-packed Mission see said, outlining the white Array of experiments provided by the Saudi space commission and other partners. And Axiom, she explained has been a laboriously working to accommodate these projects into the available crew time and ISS resources. In her words, the process was like playing a massive game of very complicated, four-dimensional Django. Now, Axiom has not let past
experiences. Go on learned lessons from ex1 where the four-person crew were swamped with tasks have been For mental that preparing for ax to the crew, adapted, the mission training, intensifying focus in some areas. While tapering it others, and taking a leaf from past practices with stdin a day, May 16th briefing.
Highlighted the necessity to return to a short duration training style, similar to space flight training for the space shuttle said, focusing on the areas where we need the most experience with she said with sins own schedule is much less constrained than that of her. Assessor?
Who commanded a X1 last year, she assured, I'll be available to help the crew members a lot more as they need assistance, which will primarily just be the first day or two and it's notable that ax to marks the tenth crewed flight by SpaceX in less than three years. This journey began with a demo to commercial crew, test flight for NASA and may have 20/20.
And since then SpaceX has launched six crew rotation missions to the ISS including a X1 and the trailblazing Inspiration for a private astronaut mission in 2021, the spent three days in space without docking with the International Space Station. And as Axiom space steps forward into this new frontier of commercial space flight each Mission marks, it incremental shift in the world of space exploration. When they grows increasingly commercial inclusive, and also exciting.
And these missions aren't just about reaching for the stars, are about making them more accessible. To everybody. And in this sense, Axiom space isn't just launching Rockets with SpaceX. They're launching dreams for and New Frontier in the red biting us all to look up and see where the future is headed and exim. Space isn't even getting started the leadership at Axiom.
Envisions, the private spaceflight will continue much later than when the space station is retired, which Anessa anticipates will happen around 2030, and Axiom is one of several. Us companies that are going to be building a new privately owned space station. It's an effort supported by NASA, but the private sector is
picking up the tab on this one. The ax to crew will work closely with the professional astronauts that are already on the space station and those astronauts will show the new ax to Mission astronauts the ropes on board of the station, such as the kitchen, the bathroom, where to sleep, how to sleep and certain areas will remain off limits for just the International Space Station. Professional astronauts. That's been a great update about Axiom space.
I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy space flight because it's really cool. It's really interesting. And I also hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you did, please take a second and hit the follow or subscribe button on whatever podcast platform you're on right now because it will help out the show. Tremendously also, I want to say thank you For taking the time out of your day today, to spend it here with me on the Elon Musk
podcast. Please take care of yourselves and each other, and I'll see you in the next one.