The crew of the Ax-1 mission receives honorary space titles

Three of the four mission crews ax 1Give Axiom Spaceby members International Space Station (ISS) as “honorary astronauts,” because they are civilians with no spaceflight experience who will stay in the orbital structure for eight days.

The flight arrived at the station last Saturday (9) after Leave the ground the day before On board the Crew Dragon Endeavor spacecraft, developed by SpaceX. Of the four passengers, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria was the only one with spaceflight experience — he retired from NASA for years, becoming the first former astronaut to return to the International Space Station.

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“I must say this is a truly unique experience,” the commander said during a broadcast with his fellow travelers and members of Expedition 67 – The current occupants of the International Space Station. “I don’t even know how to begin to describe what it has been like to be inside the Crew Dragon for the past day and a half, seeing these people’s faces light up.”

The commander then announced the recognition of his fellow crew members as honorary astronauts: “There is a tradition that when you cross a certain boundary – and these limits are debatable, but in the United States, it is about 80 km – you become an astronaut at the height you have reached, and this is what happened to these three people Yesterday, for the first time [sexta-feira, 8]’, he commented, then handed out pins proving the invasion of civilian travelers.

When he mentioned the term “debatable”, Lopez Alegria To the extent defined for what constitutes “space travel”. Explaining: The international consensus states that the so-called “Kerman line“- 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface – is the boundary that separates our planet from space. However, the United States has a minimum of this, at an altitude of about 80 km.

This demarcation generates some debate about whether or not someone is an astronaut – this has been the point of controversy over Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon Group and Blue Origin Aviation, or not officially recognized honor, When traveling with New Shepard in July 2021.

In other words, it is likely to be a file NASA Recognition of the three crew members as astronauts – it was the US agency that brokered the flight with Axiom Space and SpaceXThe owner of Crew Dragon. However, whether or not this will be internationally recognized is another story. One to see later.

“I’m excited and honored to be here,” said Larry Connor, pilot and now the second civilian astronaut to serve in position on orbital flight. “Thanks to SpaceX for this amazing flight. Sorry, it was out of this world. We’re here to live this experience, but we understand there’s a responsibility to do it right. And that’s what we’re focused on, with the support of everyone here on the International Space Station and in control of the surface.” So this is going to be a busy week of research for us, and I know time will pass very quickly.”

The crew of honorary astronauts on the Ax-1 mission will conduct research in various fields, but the idea is mostly to work on health studies, thanks to Axiom Space’s partnership with several US hospital entities. Another aspect of the research is studying the technologies of Axiom itself.

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