Axiom Mission 2: Four Private Astronauts, Including First Saudi Woman To Fly To Space, Reach ISS. All About It

Axiom Mission-2 (Ax-2), the second all-private astronaut mission to ISS, docked to the orbiting laboratory at 9:12 am EDT (6:42 pm IST) on May 22.

Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) astronauts Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Rayannah Barnawi and Ali Alqarni reached the International Space Station (ISS) on May 22, 2023, and joined Expedition 69 crew members. This makes Barnawi the first Saudi woman to fly to space. ( Image Source :NASA )

Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) astronauts Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Rayannah Barnawi and Ali Alqarni reached the International Space Station (ISS) on May 22, 2023, and joined Expedition 69 crew members. This makes Barnawi the first Saudi woman to fly to space, and to reach the ISS. 

Ax-2, the second all-private astronaut mission to ISS, docked to the orbiting laboratory at 9:12 am EDT (6:42 pm IST) on May 22. The four private astronauts blasted off into space aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, atop a Falcon 9 rocket, at 5:37 pm EDT on May 21 (3:07 am IST on May 22), from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida. 

All about Ax-2

Whitson, Axiom Space's Director of Human Spaceflight and former NASA astronaut, served as the commander during the mission to the space station. Shoffner, an aviator, served as the pilot. Alqarni and Barnawi, both from Saudi Arabia, were mission specialists. 

The four astronauts will conduct science, outreach and commercial activities on the orbiting laboratory. 

The hatch of the ISS following the docking of Dragon was opened at 11 am EDT (8:30 pm IST) on May 22, NASA said in a mission update. 

The Ax-2 crew joined Expedition 69 crew members living aboard the ISS. Expedition 69 crew members include NASA astronauts Frank Rubio, Woody Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, Roscosmos cosmonauts Dmitri Petelin, Sergey Prokopyev and Andrey Fedyaev, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi. The arrival of the Ax-2 crew brings the total population of the space station to 11.  

Interesting facts about Ax-2 astronauts

On April 10, 2017, Whitson became the first and only female to command the ISS twice. 

She also holds a record among women for spending the most time in space. 

Whitson has spent over 665 days on the ISS, and as part of Ax-2, she will spend more time on the space station. 

During the Ax-2 mission to the space station, Whitson became the first woman to command a private space mission. She is also the first ISS Science Officer, the first woman and first non-military Chief of NASA's Astronaut Office, and holds the record for the most spacewalks by a woman, Axiom Space says on its website. 

Shoffner has cycled across the United States in 18 days without support, completed 3,000 skydives and base jumps, and accumulated 8,500 flight hours, among other feats. He has been a pilot since he was 17 years old. 

Barnawi is a biomedical researcher with almost a decade of experience in cancer stem-cell research, and will be focusing on stem cell and breast cancer research on the space station during Ax-2. 

Alqarni has more than 12 years of flying experience, and has logged 2,387 flight hours. He holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace science. 

Scientific research to be conducted as part of Ax-2

As part of Ax-2, the four astronauts will conduct more than 20 different experiments, including research that will help improve understanding of human physiology both on Earth and on-orbit and other investigations in fields such as healthcare and technology development.

The life science experiments to be conducted on the space station include DNA nano-therapeutics, which are nanotubes that can be used for therapeutic mRNA delivery; production of stem cells and stem cell-derived products; investigation of the inflammatory response of human cells in microgravity; study of triple-negative breast cancer (a type of breast cancer that does not have any of the receptors that are commonly found in breast cancer) cells to understand immune dysfunction; and studying bioengineered liver and kidney tissue constructs to understand the impact of microgravity on vascularisation of thick tissues. 

The human research experiments include projects that will see how humans adapt and respond to spaceflight, and the study of the activity of DNA and RNA-editing enzymes involved in mutations, among others.

The physical science experiments to be conducted include cloud seeding, which is the process of artificially generating rain by implanting clouds with particles such as silver iodide crystals; testing of a newly developed hydrogen-rich polymer to check its ability to protect against space radiation; and a night-time experiment to image thunderstorms, lightning, and other electrical phenomena. 

Depending on weather conditions, Ax-2 astronauts may depart the space station on May 30, to return to Earth.