Axiom Space on Tuesday revealed the commander and pilot of its second commercial mission proposed to fly to the International Space Station and announced the proposed crew’s intended research while on orbit. Axiom will compete to fly the Ax-2 mission when NASA announces the next private astronaut mission opportunity. If awarded, Ax-2 will further the Houston-based space infrastructure leader’s expansion of the commercial human spaceflight market and cement the research opportunities it can make possible for private industry in low-Earth orbit.
Space policy luminary Mary Lynne Dittmar joins Axiom Space as Executive Vice President, Government Affairs
Axiom Space revealed Monday that Coalition for Deep Space Exploration founder and former President/CEO Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, known for her influential role in national policy toward human space exploration and commercial space development, has joined the Houston-based space infrastructure leader as Executive Vice President, Government Affairs.
At Axiom, which is currently constructing the world’s-first commercial low-Earth orbit (LEO) destination that will succeed the International Space Station (ISS), she will direct the company’s policy objectives and strategic advocacy with local, state, and federal government authorities.
“I am excited to be joining the team of experts I believe will accomplish the necessary next steps to ensure a permanent U.S. presence in low Earth orbit,” Dittmar said. “Axiom is leading the development of next-generation space infrastructure to meet the needs of industry, science, and the government. The opportunities it will create for a global user base are boundless.”
An established thought leader in the space industry, she sits on the National Space Council Users’ Advisory Group, the Space Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC). Through her work with the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration and her own consulting group, Dittmar Associates, she has served as one of the industry’s top representatives to the White House and Congress and been a senior adviser to multiple NASA mission directorates, the ISS Program, and various aerospace companies supporting the Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Defense, and NASA.
Her previous experience also includes roles as Senior Policy Advisor for the ISS National Laboratory, Member of the Board of Directors at the American Astronautical Society, and managing the Flight Operations Group and serving as the Chief Scientist for Commercial Payloads on the ISS Program at Boeing.
Dittmar’s addition bolsters an Axiom team already laden with specialized expertise in human spaceflight and deep experience in the design, construction, assembly, and operation of the ISS. She will report directly to President & CEO Michael Suffredini.
“Mary Lynne is one of the truest visionaries, leaders, and representatives our industry has ever had,” Suffredini said. “NASA and the whole of the U.S. government are valued partners in our efforts to preserve American leadership in space and open the floodgates of economic development and innovation in microgravity. She will tirelessly advocate for this vision and serve as an essential strategic voice. We are beyond thrilled to welcome her.”
In selecting Axiom in January 2020 to attach its own privately developed modules to ISS, NASA marked the Houston company a key driver of its efforts to commercialize LEO through public-private partnership. Once constructed as a new segment of the ISS, the Axiom Station will separate when the ISS is decommissioned and form the core infrastructure layer of the LEO economy – an industrial park in orbit offering space infrastructure as a service, opportunities for microgravity manufacturing and research, and accommodations for national and private astronauts.
About Axiom Space
Axiom Space is guided by the vision of a thriving home in space that benefits every human, everywhere. The leader in providing space infrastructure as a service, Axiom offers end-to-end missions to the International Space Station today while privately developing its successor – a permanent commercial destination in Earth’s orbit that will sustain human growth off the planet and bring untold benefits back home. More information about Axiom can be found at www.axiomspace.com.
Inquiries: beau@axiomspace.com
CNBC - Private spaceflight specialist Axiom Space raises $130 million to become the latest space unicorn
Houston-based Axiom Space is going full tilt into scaling production of private space stations, while also flying paying passengers on trips to orbit, with the company announcing Tuesday it received $130 million in a new round of funding.
“This round lets us go make a major payment in the build of our [space station] module and lets us build up the team, which we’ve been expanding at just a crazy pace,” Axiom President and CEO Michael Suffredini told CNBC.
FORBES - Axiom Space Announces Ax1 – First All-Private Crew To Visit ISS
When it comes to space, even the wildest ideas have a chance of becoming reality – especially when the timing and technology align just so. Four years ago, Axiom Space announced plans to build a private space station; like for many companies with similar plans before them, the news was generally well received but with a healthy dose of “we’ll believe it when we see it.” Over the intervening years, Houston-based Axiom has continued the steady march forward and today took a major step on the planned path to create a private space station – and prove the demand for those willing to pay to reach it.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - Axiom Space Names First Private Crew to Visit Space Station
The crew of the first entirely-private orbital space mission will include the second oldest person to launch into space, the second Israeli in space, the 11th Canadian to fly into space and the first former NASA astronaut to return to the International Space Station, the company organizing the history-making flight has announced.
GIZMODO - Axiom Space Now Has a Crew for the First Commercial Mission to the ISS
As early as next year, these four men could make history by becoming members of the the first commercial crew to visit the International Space Station.
THE WASHINGTON POST - The first space crew composed entirely of private citizens
Two are grandfathers, the other has three young children. All three are extremely wealthy, with the means to pay the $55 million ticket price for an eight-day stay on the International Space Station. They are the first would-be spaceflight crew comprised entirely of private citizens in a mission to the station.
Axiom Space reveals historic first private crew to visit International Space Station
Axiom Space on Tuesday announced its crew for humankind’s first flight of a group of private individuals to a Low Earth Orbit destination – the first-ever entirely private mission proposed to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).
GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Axiom announces 1st private mission to International Space Station
A trip to space for private travel may soon be a reality.
Axiom Space announced on Tuesday that it will be launching private citizens into space next year for spaceflight.
Commanding the first flight will be decorated former NASA astronaut, Michael Lopez-Alegria, who holds two NASA records for spacewalks.
“You’ve got to start somewhere,” Alegria told “Good Morning America.” “Just like commercial aviation back in the 1920s and ‘30s, only very rich people could fly. Now people get on an airplane to go to birthday parties, So that’s going to happen in commercial human spaceflight.”
BUSINESS INSIDER - A private astronaut explains how Axiom plans to replace the International Space Station and potentially save NASA billions per year
After 20 years of continual human habitation, the International Space Station — a football field-size laboratory that zips around Earth a more than 17,000 mph — is at a crossroads.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE - With Axiom, Houston Spaceport gets commercial space station tenant
Axiom Space will develop its commercial space station at the Houston Spaceport, a deal that could help spur long-held ambitions for turning the spaceport into a hub of aerospace activity.
BUSINESS INSIDER - Meet the astronaut who may fly Tom Cruise to orbit on the first all-private space mission with SpaceX's help
Private astronauts have rocketed into orbit for decades, but none has ever commanded a space mission, let alone piloted a commercial vehicle full of millionaire space tourists.
Michael López-Alegría may be the first in history, and as early as next year.
Axiom Space Announces the ASPIRE Innovation Competition
Axiom Space is building the world’s first commercial space station – Axiom Station – which will take flight in 2024. Today, Axiom Space honors twenty years of continuous human presence in space by launching the ASPIRE Innovation Competition on this 20th anniversary of the International Space Station in partnership with the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research (ASGSR).
Astronaut Peggy Whitson aboard the International Space Station
The ASPIRE Innovation Competition aims to inspire student researchers to leverage the scientific insights and discoveries of these past twenty years to create space-based solutions. These solutions will not only help build a thriving home for humans in space but also benefit every human, everywhere.
The Axiom Space Prize for Inspiring Researchers into Entrepreneurs (ASPIRE) is designed to encourage student members of ASGSR to take an entrepreneurial viewpoint.
As a student researcher, ask yourself:
How might your research in life or physical sciences result in an innovative product or a new method that requires microgravity as a key breakthrough ingredient?
How might your research translate into a service that requires the view from 250 miles above Earth or presence in microgravity?
How would you commercialize your research and contribute to the emerging LEO economy?
The ASPIRE Innovation Competition is open to any undergraduate or graduate student.
To express your interest and to be notified when the Axiom ASPIRE Innovation Competition application launches send us an email to: aspire@axiomspace.com with “ASPIRE 2020” in the subject line. The application will open in early 2021.
Humans have been living aboard the International Space Station for 20 years. What comes next?
The small but persistent air leak was getting worse. Not life-threatening, NASA said, not by any means. But if you’re on a spaceship, in orbit 250 miles above Earth, any leak is bad.
What Comes After the International Space Station?
Funding for the world's premiere orbital laboratory won't last forever. Its end could usher in a new era of commercial space stations.
Axiom Space finalizing first commercial ISS mission
Axiom Space hopes to soon finalize its first commercial mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for late 2021, as it continues development of a commercial module for the station.
Former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria to return to orbit on Axiom private mission
Former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria to return to orbit on Axiom private mission
How commercializing the International Space Station can help astronauts get to the moon and Mars
How commercializing the International Space Station can help astronauts get to the moon and Mars
What would you ask an astronaut, given the chance?
In the first of its Axioms series, Axiom Space presents a roundtable discussion offering the sort of unfiltered, human conversation among astronauts you’ve never before gotten from members of this distinguished group.
The Participants:
Michael Lopez-Alegria – Axiom VP of Business Development, NASA Astronaut, ISS Expedition 14 Commander, American spacewalk hours record-holder
Rex Walheim – Axiom Director of Safety & Mission Assurance, NASA Astronaut, flew three times on the Space Shuttle … including STS-135
Peggy Whitson – Axiom Consultant, NASA Astronaut, two-time ISS Commander, most days spent in space of any American
Charlie Bolden – Axiom Consultant, NASA Astronaut, NASA Administrator 2009-2017
Axiom Space Remains Central Figure In Private Spaceflight Among Multiple Endeavors
Axiom Space Remains Central Figure In Private Spaceflight Among Multiple Endeavors