Tesla boss Elon Musk (50) has not only been dedicated to expanding electric mobility, but also to conquering space.
Now he has made history again with his company SpaceX: on Friday, the first fully private charter flight to the ISS space station took off!
Seats in Musk’s “Crew Dragon” space capsule were limited – and immensely expensive. Each ticket for the eight-day All-Stay is $55 million, including room and board. In addition, participants had to invest 700 hours of training.
These are the participants
Rich businessmen got the seats. On board were American businessman Larry Connor (72), Israeli businessman and pilot Eytan Stibbe (64) and Canadian investor Mark Pathy (52). Former American-Spanish NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría (63) accompanies them.
Punctually, at 11:17 am local time, the “Falcon 9” rocket took off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport, in the US state of Florida. After about 20 hours in space, spacewalkers are expected to dock at the ISS early Saturday morning and be brought aboard the space station shortly thereafter.
The rocket launch at the Cape Canaveral CosmodromePhoto: RED HUBER/AFP
“It was an incredible flight and we are looking forward to the next few days,” said former NASA astronaut Lopez-Alegria upon arriving in orbit. NASA chief Bill Nelson (79) spoke of a “historic beginning” and a “new era of manned space travel.” The start had already been delayed several times.
Elon Musk, head of Tesla and SpaceX (50)Photo: Susan Walsh/AP
Visitor tickets include access to all areas of the ISS – except the Russian part, for which you need permission from the three cosmonauts on board. Among other things, a meeting is planned with German astronaut Matthias Maurer (52), who also lives on the space station.
NASA space chief Kathy Lueders said a lot can be learned from this first visit to the entirely private station. “But, man, this release was a great start,” she told reporters.
Each of the flight companions has to carry out a series of experiments during their stay. That’s why they don’t like being called space tourists.
“They’re not there to press their nose to the window,” said Axiom president Michael Suffredini.