Four Axiom Mission-2 Private Astronauts Enter International Space Station
By Space Coast Daily // May 22, 2023
ABOVE VIDEO: On Sunday, May 21 at 5:37 p.m. ET (21:37 UTC), Falcon 9 launched Axiom Space’s Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) astronauts Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi now are aboard the International Space Station following Dragon’s hatch opening at 11 a.m. EDT Monday, May 22.
Ax-2 docked to the orbital complex at 9:12 a.m. on the second mission with an entirely private crew to arrive at the orbiting laboratory.
The Axiom Space crew are joining Expedition 69 crew members aboard station, including NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Woody Hoburg, and Stephen Bowen, UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Andrey Fedyaev, and Sergey Prokopyev.
Next up, the station crew members will take part in a welcome ceremony aboard the International Space Station.
Axiom Space astronauts are expected to depart the space station May 30, pending weather, for a return to Earth and splashdown at a landing site off the coast of Florida
