With it's 13th launch of the year on Friday, SpaceX will make history, sending the first private crew of astronauts to the International Space Station for a week to conduct dozens of science experiments.
Ax-1, Axiom Space's first mission to the ISS, is scheduled to lift off at 11:17 a.m. EDT on a previously flown Falcon 9 rocket that will fly from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission is the first-ever flight of private citizens to the orbital outpost on a commercial vehicle. Spanning 10 days, the mission will see the crew spend eight days aboard the orbiting lab, living and working on the station alongside the current crew.
Ax-1's passengers are retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría; Larry Connor, a real estate and technology entrepreneur; Mark Pathy, a Canadian businessman; and Eytan Stibbe, an Israeli entrepreneur and former fighter jet pilot.
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