SpaceX just launched civilians to the International Space Station. Here's what you need to know

10 nine, eight 76, four, 32, 10 ignition Go falcon go dragon got speed actually, um, one Together. A new chapter begins, Godspeed AX one Stage one propulsion is nominal what? T plus 38 seconds into this historic mission flying crew on board dragon and Falcon Stage one Throttle Down, throttling down. In the preparation from max dynamic pressure. Falcon nine is supersonic. Next cue Stage one throttle up, Merlin 1D engines coming back up to power copy one bravo. The crew calling out one bravo should escape situation arise and tells the dragon flight computer what profile to fly using the super Draco engines but everything is looking good on Falcon nine. We're getting nominal call outs from all the engineers and a great view from the ground camera on the on board camera. Beginning to chill in the second stage turbo pump in preparation for its ignition. Coming up in just over half a minute from now coming up on about 3.5 Gs acceleration for the crew. We'll begin throttling down the merlin engines to hold that that level of acceleration. The next event coming up, we're going to get main engine cut off of the main engines, get stage separation and ignition of the second stage engine. You've heard the throttle down, call out, we're holding 3.5 Gs for the crew and Miko separation of recognition, successful stage separation, ignition of the second stage engine on the left, The titanium grid fins beginning to slowly deploy great views from the first stage camera. The first stage now begins a slow flip maneuver. You can see the white nitrogen gas plumes as we reorient for an entry back through the Earth's atmosphere. A little bit later in the plus count second stage we see the engine nozzle glowing red, Everything continuing to look good on the second stage we should be hearing call outs coming up to the crew here shortly on how the trajectory is looking. Dragon SpaceX trajectory, nominal what we like to hear a. O. S. Bermuda acquisition of signal. The Bermuda tracking station now getting telemetry from the second stage of the falcon nine with the dragon on top two plus four minutes, 10 seconds. Everything continues to be nominal first aid, coasting to apogee and then it will come back down for landing on the drone ship. Second stage part way through its lengthy burn to get the crew into orbit So Kate 4.5 minutes in, everything continues to look good. What a absolutely picture perfect lift off. We've got a live view of the crew inside Dragon endeavor looks like everyone is still pretty comfy. As john had said earlier, we got all right, good call out there. That trajectory is nominal as john mentioned, we got to about 3.5 Gs. Their position has signaled new Hampshire. Okay. On the left hand side of your screen, we can see the first stage as it is making its way back down to Earth. It's targeting a landing on our drone ship, A shortfall of Gravitas which is parked a couple 100 miles off the coast of florida, out in the atlantic ocean. 2nd stage on the right hand side, everything continues to be nominal there as the M Vac engine is powering the second stage and Dragon in Denver Dragon endeavor to its targeted drop off orbit. Absolutely beautiful views of both the 1st and 2nd stages. Yeah, right, take the necklace. Okay, Alright, so, coming up in about a minute and a half, the first stage will execute the first of two burns required for today's landing attempt um at about t plus seven minutes and 30 seconds we'll see the entry burn begin. That's where the first stage will ignite um the center engine first and then a couple of seconds later ignite two more engines to a total of three engine burn Which will last about 29 seconds. The entry burn slows the vehicle down significantly as it re enters back into the Earth's atmosphere. The first stage sees high drag which scrubs roughly 70% of that velocity by the time that the landing burn begins stunning view where you can see the curvature of the Earth there on the left hand side trajectory, nominal, basically. Never there. You can see the nitrogen gas thrusters. That's the puff of um gas that you see there occasionally. That's used for attitude control systems. We also utilize those grid fins that you see. There are four of them placed around the booster uh and those grid fins also helped steer for a precise landing entry burn startup. Alright there we can see that that entry burn has begun. We are targeting a landing on our drone ship, a shortfall of gravitas today, everything continuing to look nominal with trajectory and impact performance there for our second stage on the right hand side. So we are conducting the entry burn Previously the booster one entry Burn shut down. That entry burn helps slow the booster down. It was going about 25 times the speed of sound so we slow it down as it reenters the dense part of the Earth's atmosphere. The next event is second engine cut off or seco one as you see it there on the timeline at the bottom of your screen attached to your internal guidance. That's where we shut down the m back engine or second engine cut off copy Shannon Stage one trans sonic note that our landing burn and second engine cut off will occur about the same time. Alright, we got a live view of the crew inside Dragon endeavor there on the right hand side of your screen. Stage one Landing Burn Landing Burn has begun for the first day 1st stage. All right, great news there, Dragon endeavor, nominal orbit insertion state sex endeavor. We copied and it's great to be here. Zero G. We feel fine. Stage one landing like deployment system

A SpaceX rocket carrying three paying customers and a former NASA astronaut took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday morning, kicking off a first-of-its-kind mission that will take the group on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station.The trip was brokered by the Houston, Texas-based startup Axiom Space, which seeks to book rocket rides, provide all the necessary training, and coordinate flights to the ISS for anyone who can afford it. It's all in line with the US government's and the private sector's goal to boost commercial activity on the ISS and beyond.On board this mission, called AX-1, will be Michael Lopez-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut turned Axiom employee who is commanding the mission; Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe; Canadian investor Mark Pathy; and Ohio-based real estate magnate Larry Connor.It's not the first time paying customers or otherwise non-astronauts have visited the ISS, as Russia has sold seats on its Soyuz spacecraft for various wealthy thrill seekers in years past. But this is the first mission that will include a crew entirely comprised of private citizens with no active members of a government astronaut corps. It's also the first time private citizens will travel to the ISS on a US-made spacecraft.Here's everything you need to know.How much did this all cost?Axiom previously disclosed a price of $55 million per seat for a 10-day trip to the ISS, but the company declined to comment on the financial terms for this specific mission — beyond saying in a press conference last year that the price is in the "tens of millions."The mission is made possible by very close coordination among Axiom, SpaceX and NASA, since the ISS is government-funded and operated.And the space agency has revealed some details on how much it'll charge for use of its 20-year-old orbiting laboratory.Food alone costs $2,000 per day, per person, in space. Getting provisions to and from the space station for a commercial crew is another $88,000 to $164,000 per person, per day. For each mission, bringing on the necessary support from NASA astronauts will cost commercial customers another $5.2 million, and all the mission support and planning that NASA lends is another $4.8 million.Who is flying?Lopez-Alegría, a veteran of four trips to space between 1995 and 2007 during his time with NASA, will command this mission as an Axiom employee. Is it safe to go to the ISS, given the Russia conflict?Russia is the United States' primary partner on the ISS, and the space station has long been hailed as a symbol of post-Cold War cooperation.U.S.-Russian relations on the ground, however, have hit a fever pitch amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The United States and its allies have slapped hefty sanctions on Russia, and the country has retaliated in numerous ways, including by refusing to sell Russian rocket engines to U.S. companies. The head of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, has even taken to social media to threaten to pull out of the ISS agreement.Despite all the bluster, NASA has repeatedly sought to reassure that, behind the scenes, NASA and its Russian counterparts are working together seamlessly."NASA is aware of recent comments regarding the International Space Station. US sanctions and export control measures continue to allow US-Russia civil space cooperation on the space station," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a recent statement. "The professional relationship between our international partners, astronauts and cosmonauts continues for the safety and mission of all on board the ISS."Are they astronauts or tourists?This is a question stewing in the spaceflight community right now.The U.S. government has traditionally awarded astronaut wings to anyone who travels more than 50 miles above the Earth's surface. But commercial astronaut wings — a relatively new designation handed out by the Federal Aviation Administration — might not be handed out quite so liberally.Last year, the FAA decided to end the entire Commercial Space Astronaut Wings program on Jan. 1, 2022. Now, the FAA plans to simply list the names of everyone who flies above the 50-mile threshold on a website.Whether it's fair to still refer to people who pay their way to space as "astronauts" is an open question, and countless observers — including NASA astronauts — have weighed in.Not everyone is too concerned about mincing words."If you're strapping your butt to a rocket, I think that's worth something," former NASA astronaut Terry Virts told National Geographic when asked about the issue. "When I was an F-16 pilot, I didn't feel jealous about Cessna pilots being called pilots. I think everybody's going to know if you paid to be a passenger on a five-minute suborbital flight or if you're the commander of an interplanetary space vehicle. Those are two different things."If you ask the AX-1 crew, they don't love being referred to as "tourists.""This mission is very different from what you may have heard of in some of the recent — especially suborbital — missions. We are not space tourists," Lopez-Alegría told reporters earlier this month, referring to the brief supersonic flights put on by Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin. "I think there's an important role for space tourism, but it is not what Axiom is about."The crew did undergo extensive training for this mission, taking on much of the same tasks as professional astronauts in training. But the fact is that the three paying customers on this flight — Stibbe, Pathy, and Connor — weren't selected from a pool of thousands of applicants and aren't dedicating much of their lives to the endeavor.Axiom itself has been more flippant about word usage in the past."Commercial human spaceflight. Space Tourism. Whatever you call it — it's happening. And soon," the company wrote on its website.What will they do while they're in space?Each of the crew members has a list of research projects they plan to work on.Connor will be doing some research on how spaceflight affects senescent cells, which are cells that have ceased the normal replication process and are "linked to multiple age-related diseases," according to Axiom. That research will be done in partnership with the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.Among the items on Pathy's to-do list is some additional medical research, focused more on children's health, that he'll conduct in partnership with several Canadian hospitals, and some conservation-awareness initiatives.Stibbe will also do some research and focus on "educational and artistic activities to connect the younger generation in Israel and around the globe," according to Axiom. Stibbe is flying on behalf of the Ramon Foundation — a space education non-profit named for Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. Stibbe's Axiom bio says he and Ramon shared a "close" friendship.During downtime, the crew will also get a chance to enjoy sweeping views of Earth. And, at some point, they'll share a meal with the other astronauts on board. Their food was prepared in partnership with celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andrés. Their meals "lean on flavors and traditional dishes of Commander López-Alegría's native Spain," according to Axiom.

The trip was brokered by the Houston, Texas-based startup Axiom Space, which seeks to book rocket rides, provide all the necessary training, and coordinate flights to the ISS for anyone who can afford it. It's all in line with the US government's and the private sector's goal to boost commercial activity on the ISS and beyond.

On board this mission, called AX-1, will be Michael Lopez-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut turned Axiom employee who is commanding the mission; Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe; Canadian investor Mark Pathy; and Ohio-based real estate magnate Larry Connor.

It's not the first time paying customers or otherwise non-astronauts have visited the ISS, as Russia has sold seats on its Soyuz spacecraft for various wealthy thrill seekers in years past. But this is the first mission that will include a crew entirely comprised of private citizens with no active members of a government astronaut corps. It's also the first time private citizens will travel to the ISS on a US-made spacecraft.

Here's everything you need to know.

How much did this all cost?

Axiom previously disclosed a price of $55 million per seat for a 10-day trip to the ISS, but the company declined to comment on the financial terms for this specific mission — beyond saying in a press conference last year that the price is in the "tens of millions."

The mission is made possible by very close coordination among Axiom, SpaceX and NASA, since the ISS is government-funded and operated.

And the space agency has revealed some details on how much it'll charge for use of its 20-year-old orbiting laboratory.

Food alone costs $2,000 per day, per person, in space. Getting provisions to and from the space station for a commercial crew is another $88,000 to $164,000 per person, per day. For each mission, bringing on the necessary support from NASA astronauts will cost commercial customers another $5.2 million, and all the mission support and planning that NASA lends is another $4.8 million.

Who is flying?

Lopez-Alegría, a veteran of four trips to space between 1995 and 2007 during his time with NASA, will command this mission as an Axiom employee.

Is it safe to go to the ISS, given the Russia conflict?

Russia is the United States' primary partner on the ISS, and the space station has long been hailed as a symbol of post-Cold War cooperation.

U.S.-Russian relations on the ground, however, have hit a fever pitch amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The United States and its allies have slapped hefty sanctions on Russia, and the country has retaliated in numerous ways, including by refusing to sell Russian rocket engines to U.S. companies. The head of Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, has even taken to social media to threaten to pull out of the ISS agreement.

Despite all the bluster, NASA has repeatedly sought to reassure that, behind the scenes, NASA and its Russian counterparts are working together seamlessly.

"NASA is aware of recent comments regarding the International Space Station. US sanctions and export control measures continue to allow US-Russia civil space cooperation on the space station," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a recent statement. "The professional relationship between our international partners, astronauts and cosmonauts continues for the safety and mission of all on board the ISS."

Are they astronauts or tourists?

This is a question stewing in the spaceflight community right now.

The U.S. government has traditionally awarded astronaut wings to anyone who travels more than 50 miles above the Earth's surface. But commercial astronaut wings — a relatively new designation handed out by the Federal Aviation Administration — might not be handed out quite so liberally.

Last year, the FAA decided to end the entire Commercial Space Astronaut Wings program on Jan. 1, 2022. Now, the FAA plans to simply list the names of everyone who flies above the 50-mile threshold on a website.

Whether it's fair to still refer to people who pay their way to space as "astronauts" is an open question, and countless observers — including NASA astronauts — have weighed in.

Not everyone is too concerned about mincing words.

"If you're strapping your butt to a rocket, I think that's worth something," former NASA astronaut Terry Virts told National Geographic when asked about the issue. "When I was an F-16 pilot, I didn't feel jealous about Cessna pilots being called pilots. I think everybody's going to know if you paid to be a passenger on a five-minute suborbital flight or if you're the commander of an interplanetary space vehicle. Those are two different things."

If you ask the AX-1 crew, they don't love being referred to as "tourists."

"This mission is very different from what you may have heard of in some of the recent — especially suborbital — missions. We are not space tourists," Lopez-Alegría told reporters earlier this month, referring to the brief supersonic flights put on by Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin. "I think there's an important role for space tourism, but it is not what Axiom is about."

The crew did undergo extensive training for this mission, taking on much of the same tasks as professional astronauts in training. But the fact is that the three paying customers on this flight — Stibbe, Pathy, and Connor — weren't selected from a pool of thousands of applicants and aren't dedicating much of their lives to the endeavor.

Axiom itself has been more flippant about word usage in the past.

"Commercial human spaceflight. Space Tourism. Whatever you call it — it's happening. And soon," the company wrote on its website.

What will they do while they're in space?

Each of the crew members has a list of research projects they plan to work on.

Connor will be doing some research on how spaceflight affects senescent cells, which are cells that have ceased the normal replication process and are "linked to multiple age-related diseases," according to Axiom. That research will be done in partnership with the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.

Among the items on Pathy's to-do list is some additional medical research, focused more on children's health, that he'll conduct in partnership with several Canadian hospitals, and some conservation-awareness initiatives.

Stibbe will also do some research and focus on "educational and artistic activities to connect the younger generation in Israel and around the globe," according to Axiom. Stibbe is flying on behalf of the Ramon Foundation — a space education non-profit named for Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. Stibbe's Axiom bio says he and Ramon shared a "close" friendship.

During downtime, the crew will also get a chance to enjoy sweeping views of Earth. And, at some point, they'll share a meal with the other astronauts on board. Their food was prepared in partnership with celebrity chef and philanthropist Jose Andrés. Their meals "lean on flavors and traditional dishes of Commander López-Alegría's native Spain," according to Axiom.

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