The first all-private astronaut’s team arrives at the International Space Station

WASHINGTON: The first all-private team of astronauts comprising three businessmen and a former astronaut, arrived yesterday at the International Space Station (ISS), aboard a SpaceX rocket, Reuters reported.

The Ax-1 mission commander, Spanish-American Michael Lopez-Alegria, along with Canadian Mark Pathy, American Larry Connor and Israeli Eytan Stibbe, in their blue and black uniforms, exited the SpaceX-made capsule, Dragon.

Lopez-Alegria, a 63-year-old former NASA astronaut, currently works for Axiom, the company that organised the flight, while each of the other three crew members paid millions of dollars to benefit from the experience.

Axiom Space had reached an agreement to run four missions with SpaceX, while the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) granted official preliminary approval for a second mission called Ax-2.

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