Houston-based spaceflight firm Axiom Space and Elon Musk's SpaceX are partnering for total of four missions to the International Space Station.
Axiom Space has finalized a deal with SpaceX for Axiom's next three commercial missions to the ISS, the firms announced June 2. Axiom's proposed private crews will travel to the ISS using SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft for the three future missions. Dragon spacecraft have already flown three successful missions to the ISS for NASA, Axiom said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In January, Axiom revealed a group of citizens who will crew the world's first private mission to the ISS aboard SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The proposed mission will consist of Axiom Vice President Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut, as commander; activist investor Larry Connor as pilot; Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy; and Israeli investor and philanthropist Eytan Stibbe. The first private human spaceflight mission to the ISS, dubbed Ax-1, has been approved by NASA and will launch no earlier than January 2022, Axiom said.
"Axiom was founded on a vision of lasting commercial development of space," said Michael Suffredini, president and CEO at Axiom Space. "We are on track to enable that future by managing the first-ever private missions to the ISS as a precursor to our development of the world’s first commercial space station. SpaceX has blazed the trail with reliable, commercial human launch capability, and we are thrilled to partner with them on a truly historic moment."
In late May, Axiom announced the proposed crew for its second private mission to the ISS, Ax-2. Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the ISS and holder of the U.S. record for most cumulative time spent in space, will lead the mission alongside auto racer John Shoffner. Whitson and Shoffner are also training to serve as backup commander and pilot for the Ax-1 mission.
Axiom announced raising a $130 million Series B funding round in February. The company said it had plans to use the financing to further construction of its privately developed space station and to accelerate headcount growth. At the time, Suffredini told CNBC that Axiom was "well past the point" of reaching unicorn status, a title given to private firms with valuations of over $1 billion.
Axiom plans for its private space station, Axiom Station, to serve as a hub for research, manufacturing and commerce in low Earth orbit. NASA also selected Axiom to attach its own private modules to the ISS as early as 2024.
The Houston-based spaceflight firm also plans to build a new headquarters facility at the Houston Spaceport at Ellington Field. In May, Houston City Council approved two measures related to Axiom and another anchor tenant, Collins Aerospace, a division of Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX). One of the measures included authorizing a binding memorandum of agreement between Axiom and the city, allowing facility planning and design for the Axiom headquarters to begin. A lease agreement will be brought to City Council in the future.
Axiom's new 430,000-square-foot facility at the Spaceport will include high bay space, hangar, flight development and testing space, office space, astronaut facilities and parking on around 22.5 acres. The project, expected to cost around $120 million, is slated to begin construction in the first quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022.
The second measure City Council approved included authorizing a ground lease agreement for the Collins facility, which now is slated to break ground June 7.
