NASA, Axiom Space to Host Media Briefing on Private Astronaut Mission, NASA
“NASA and Axiom Space have signed a mission order for the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station and will host a teleconference with media at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 10, to discuss more details about the mission.”
Keith’s note: Over the past several months NASA HEOMD PAO has repeatedly denied me access to ISS-related media events. In one case JSC and HQ PAO staff overtly lied to me. I am rather certain that neither PAO or Axiom really want me to be allowed to ask a question, so its not really worth the bother of trying to participate these days and I may just listen in instead. Here are some questions that come to mind however.
1. (Specifically) what NASA services will this Axiom Space mission use and how much are they paying NASA for them i.e. to what extent is NASA underwriting this mission or is Axiom Space playing the full (actual, real, non-discounted) cost of the services that NASA will provide? In other words will NASA use any appropriated funds to cover expenses incurred by NASA specifically due to the uniques aspects of this mission that the agency will not be reimbursed for by Axiom Space?
2. Is there any connection, overlap, or synergy between this privately funded Axiom Space mission and the $140 million that NASA is paying Axiom to do its commercial space station add-on work? That is, is anything that Axiom Space is doing with NASA funding going to support this mission, and if so, how much NASA funding is being spent to support this mission?
3. Is there any connection between the Axiom Space purchase of a flight from SpaceX and resale to the commercial passengers and Axiom Space’s participation in the sale and swapping of commercial and Soyuz seats with NASA? If so how much NASA funding is involved and to whom is it being paid?
4. What ongoing NASA or other space agency activities on the ISS will have to be rescheduled to accommodate this Axiom Space mission and will Axiom Space be required to reimburse NASA or other agencies for these extra costs? If there is reimbursement involved how much will Axiom Space be paying and to whom?
5. Is the Dragon spacecraft new or used? Was the spacecraft being used for this mission specially built for Axiom Space or is it one built for use by NASA customers? Will any NASA crew missions to the ISS be affected by the addition of this Axiom Space flight? If so, how much work was required by NASA to readjust their schedule, how much did that additional effort cost, and how much of that additional effort was Axiom Space required to reimburse NASA for?
I might think of a few others. Feel free to post some suggestions in the comments section.

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member 🖖🏻

12 replies on “NASA And Axiom Space Will Try To Explain A Private ISS Mission”

  1. I would be interested to know what NASA sees as the benefits that private missions can provide to the ISS program. I’m sure there are benefits, things like greater public awareness of ISS resulting from the expected media interest in these flights. And potential enhancements to ISS if private groups that send astronauts to the station later seek to add modules or equipment at their own expense to support their activities. Even the monetary income to the program can have some benefit, something that of course Roscosmos figured out a long time ago. Maybe not exactly profit, but improved economies of scale, etc. But I would like to hear NASA themselves spell out the benefits that they think can be provided to the ISS program, as that is what can then be weighed against any potential detriments.

    1. AIUI, the Axiom mission is a runup to Axiom Space commercial modules being attached to ISS in 2024-2028. After they’re assembled the Axiom Station becomes a free-flyer in 2028.

      5) Crew Dragon C207 Resilience, this after it flies the Inspiration4 mission (NET September 15, 2021.) For Inspiration4 the docking adapter will be replaced by a large cupola.

      Crew Dragon Crew-3 is NET October 23, 2021, and I believe it’ll be a new vehicle. Axiom AX-1 is NET January 2022. Crew-4 is NET Q2, 2022.

      CRS-23 is NET August 18, 2021. CRS-24 is December 4, 2021. CRS-25 is NET April 2022.

      Dragons every-damned-where ?

    2. Ask not what private missions can do for the ISS. Ask what the ISS can do for private missions.

      The ISS has a rapidly approaching end to its useful life. LOP-G will take decades to build (because our bipolar Government is in charge of that…even if it is built with fixed-cost contracts) and will not replace the ISS at all ever. A torch will be passed eventually to Commercial Space for operations in Low Earth Orbit and the ISS will not play any part of that in the future. A takeover in LEO by Commercial Space has been NASA’s stated goal now for about a decade.

      This and more private mission to the ISS now are the beginning of where the momentum is headed. For now that business belongs to Dragon because Boeing was incompetent and was (and still is to some extent) holding out for a return to the dying Old Space way of doing things.

    3. It’s worth pointing out that ISS provides a place to go, without which developing commercial rockets would be a very different thing. We are really still practicing how to use space. ISS is a great example of governmental provision of infrastructure, and the benefits that accrue in the larger economic picture.

      1. Yes that’s a benefit that ISS provides to commercial programs, and I agree with that. But that’s really a separate topic than my question, as it is already pretty widely discussed what contributions ISS (and NASA in general) should or should not be making to commercial space. My question is are there any benefits to ISS from these activities. I think there are, but I would like to hear NASA’s opinion on that. Unless they consider it bad PR to sound like they are trying to get something out of commercial space. But I don’t see why because part of the reason for commercial cargo/crew in the first place is to “benefit” NASA by freeing them up from providing launch services so that they can become a customer, allowing them to concentrate their energies on larger scale projects. And yes to also help foster development in commercial space. A two-way street isn’t a bad thing.

        1. Since the Bolden days NASA has been planning for the decommissioning of ISS and their transition to using commercial stations. Axiom’s modules, and their eventual graduation to being a free flying commercial station at the end of this decade, is part of NASA’s end-game benefit. Another part is the more recent Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) project. Then ISS can be decommissioned.

          CLD
          https://www.nasa.gov/leo-ec…

          1. Yes a benefit to NASA, but again that’s not my question. My question is what if any benefits there would be to the ISS program. Seems like a simple question, one that NASA should be able to answer. ISS is going to be around for quite a while no matter how strongly anyone feels about replacing it. Things could move quickly at one or more companies like Axiom, or things could move slower than planned, which is certainly the more common scenario. Until then the ISS program remains extremely important, not only to NASA but also to the international partners.

            If there are no benefits to the ISS program, that’s fine there are other reasons to do it. But if there also are some benefits to the current program that’s even better.

          2. At the very least the first two Axiom modules should add docking ports. If the commercial vehicles use them for Axiom’s seven month flight interval it takes a load off the visiting vehicle schedule.

            https://time.com/6047554/na…

            “There are only two available docking ports so port availability is a consideration.”

            But if Axiom has its way, there will be more ports—and indeed more station…

          3. If the Axiom ports are used for commercial vehicles only then it would mainly be mitigating what would otherwise be a detriment caused by commercial activities. Which would still be a good thing, but even better is if NASA could also use those ports. Crew Dragon and Starliner would probably not do their arrival dockings there as arrivals seem to be at the Harmony forward port, but they could afterwards be relocated to the Axiom module to make way for other arriving spacecraft. And in theory Cargo Dragon could dock at Axiom. That’s assuming that Axiom wouldn’t mind NASA astronauts passing through their module going to and from the capsules. But if Axiom gets paid for the use of the ports by NASA then they might accept that. And also the Axiom astronauts will presumably want to spend at least some of their time in the other ISS modules so that would be part of the tradeoff.

    1. Not necessarily. After announcing the new rates (and getting lots of complaints), NASA did say the new rates only apply to activities like marketing and tourism. Commercial activities which are purely research and development would still be charged the old rates. But I suspect they will have trouble applying that. Were the bottles of wine sent to ISS (to see how they age in microgravity) a research project or a publicity stunt?

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