In less than two hours, the private space company Axiom Space is preparing for its second all-civilian flight. At approximately 5:37 PM ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will attempt to deliver a crew of four, including former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, to the International Space Station. You can watch the mission as it unfolds from the Kennedy Space Center starting at 5PM ET. NASA will stream the launch on its website and YouTube channel. You can also watch the flight on the Axiom Space website and right here.
Ax-2 is the follow-up to Axiom Space’s first private spaceflight, which successfully carried a crew of civilian astronauts to the ISS last year. In addition to Whitson, the Axiom Mission 2 crew consists of entrepreneur John Shoffner and Saudi astronauts Ali AlQarni and Rayyana Barnawi. After the Ax-2 team arrives at the ISS early Monday morning, they will spend the next eight days assisting the space station crew with several experiments. Axiom Space is planning another mission to the ISS later this year.
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