NEW: NASA and SpaceX launched the first mission with an all-private crew to the International Space Station today. Among the crew are a former NASA astronaut and three paying customers.
The SpaceX rocket seconds after lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 8. Photo: SpaceX
If successful, it will represent a major leap in NASA's bid to create an economy in low-Earth orbit supported by private companies and it will be Axiom's first crewed space mission.of former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría as commander, Larry Connor as pilot, and Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe as mission specialists.
Stibbe, a former Israeli aircraft pilot, is now the second Israeli citizen to go to space. The first was Ilan Ramon, who perished along with six other crew members during STS-107 in 2003 when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded on reentry."We're taking commercial business off the face of the Earth and putting it up in space, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said during an interview with Axiom before the launch.
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