Axiom Space Mission 3

Michael López-Alegría

• Birthday: 05/30/1958
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 10/20/1995
• Last Flight: 01/18/2024

Michael López-Alegría is a Spanish-American astronaut; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space Station mission. He is known for having performed ten spacewalks so far in his career, presently holding the second longest all-time EVA duration record and having the third longest spaceflight of any American at the length of 215 days; this time was spent on board the ISS from September 18, 2006 to April 21, 2007.

Walter Villadei

• Birthday: 04/29/1974
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: Italian
• First Flight: 06/29/2023
• Last Flight: 01/18/2024

Italian Air Force mission commander on the Virgin Galactic 01 flight. Backup pilot for the Axiom Space Mission 2, Pilon for the Axiom Space Mission 3, qualified on Soyuz, ISS systems, and Orlan for EVA activities.

Alper Gezeravci

• Birthday: 12/02/1979
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: Turkish
• First Flight: 01/18/2024
• Last Flight: 01/18/2024

Fighter pilot trained on F16, first Turkish astronaut.

Marcus Wandt

• Birthday: 09/22/1980
• Role: Mission Specialist
• Nationality: Swedish
• First Flight: 01/18/2024
• Last Flight: 01/18/2024

Marcus Wandt is a Swedish test pilot and member of the European Space Agency’s 2022 astronaut class reserve.

Axiom Space Mission 3

• Type: Tourism
• Orbit: Low Earth Orbit
• Launch Cost: $52,000,000

This is a Crew Dragon flight for a private company Axiom Space. The mission will carry a professionally trained commander alongside three private astronauts to and from the International Space Station. This crew will stay aboard space station for at least eight days.

Launch Complex 39A

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A has witnessed the launch of 179 rockets, including 178 orbital launch attempts, while Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA, has been the site for 237 rocket launches.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

Core B1080

Booster B1080 last launched 04/18/2024 and has seen 7 successful launches and landings. Falcon 9 Block 5 booster first used for the Axiom Space Mission 2 Crew Dragon mission.

Landing Zone 1 – LZ-1

LZ-1 Pad located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at the previous LC-13

Return to Launch Site – RTLS

A return to launch site usually means that after stage separation the booster flips and does a burn back towards the launch site, landing near where it initially launched from.

SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.