SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday morning with four astronauts aboard the private X-3 spacecraft for a two-week stay at the orbiting laboratory.
Ax-3 launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Thursday (Jan. 18), beginning a roughly 36-hour orbital exploration. That chase ended at 5:42 a.m. EST (1042 GMT) today (Jan. 20), when both spacecraft traveled 262 miles above the South Pacific, with Freedom docked in the forward port of the station's Harmony module. Ax-3 is the third private human space mission from SpaceX, which has sent nine people to the station since 2022 for Axiom Space.
“It's an incredibly exciting time for human spaceflight with the third private mission, which allows even more countries to participate in the scientific research and technology development we're doing at this orbiting laboratory,” said Andreas Morgensen, station seven commander. A person representing the European Space Agency is the Expedition 70 crew. “We have increased the number of nationalities on the space station from four to eight, which is a great testament to the international cooperation that supports this amazing space station.”
Related: Live updates of the Ax-3 private space mission
Ax-3 carries Axiom's first all-European crew, including the first astronaut from Turkey, mission specialist Alper Gezeravcı. He is joined by Ax-3 mission commander and former NASA astronaut Michael “LA” López-Alegría (who holds US and Spanish citizenship), mission pilot and Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei, and European space mission specialist Marcus Wand. Agency, from Sweden.
Morgensen (Denmark), NASA astronauts Jasmine Mokbeli and Laurel O'Hara of the United States, Satoshi Furukawa of Japan, and Russian cosmonauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub join a truly international team on the ISS. The hatch between the ISS and the Freedom capsule opened at 7:13 a.m. EST (1213 GMT), allowing the Ax-3 quartet to float aboard the orbiting lab.
“It's really a symbol of how NASA and other partners are working to expand human access to low Earth orbit,” Lopez-Alegria said during a televised welcome ceremony aboard the ISS. “As Andy said, so many nationalities are represented on board, it's a sign of what we're trying to do to continue the great work, not just for other countries, but for individuals and researchers. The ISS has been a great place for the past two decades.
Lopez-Alegria, a former ISS commander who flew on three NASA shuttle flights, presented his three Ax-3 crewmembers with Universal Astronaut pins. While the flight was the first for Gezeravcı and Wandt, Villadei flew a companion flight aboard Virgin Galactic's spaceship Two Unity, though this was his first trip to orbit.
While aboard, the Ax-3 crew will live alongside the station's current residents and conduct experiments for various research investigations. Axiom's first two crewed missions focused much of the science on human spaceflight and living in microgravity environments, and this latest mission continues that trend.
“I would like to thank all colleagues for their great efforts to get us here during the last eight months of training and for their contribution to our safe journeys,” Kesaravsi said. “We, like Turkey, are delighted with the transition to the ISS [take this] For the first time in our history, it has stepped forward.”
Ax-3 research includes robotics experiments with high-strength alloys, which has implications for construction and assembly in space; an experiment from Turkey called Vokalkord that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to diagnose dozens of diseases by analyzing a cough or a person's speech; and many other studies of physics, biology, and microgravity.
The Ax-3 crew is scheduled to spend up to 14 days in the orbiting lab, after which the astronauts and their SpaceX capsule will leave the ISS and parachute to Earth off the coast of Florida.
“I want to thank you all again for welcoming us aboard,” Lopez-Alegria told the ISS crew. “I know it's hard to have guests in your house, and we promise not to spill red wine on your white carpet.”
Editor's note: This story was updated on January 20 to include the successful docking and welcoming ceremony of four Ax-3 astronauts to the International Space Station.
