All-European crew lifts off on rescheduled Axiom 3 mission to space station
Jan. 18 (UPI) -- SpaceX's Axiom Space on Thursday embarked on a manned mission to the International Space Station.
Axiom 3 launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday afternoon from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Dragon spacecraft supported the mission that previously flew Crew-4 and Ax-2 to the space station and back.
Dragon separated from Ax-3 at approximately 5 p.m. EST.
The mission, the third private industry flight taking four astronauts to the orbiting space station laboratory was scrubbed Wednesday.
Axiom 3 has an all-European crew. They will return in approximately two weeks.
They are European Space Agency commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, Italian pilot Water Villadei, Turkish mission specialist Alper Gezeravci and Swedish ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt.
Axiom Space said in a statement that this first all-European commercial astronaut mission "marks a new era of opportunity for countries to join the international space community and access low-Earth orbit to advance exploration and research in microgravity."
SpaceX said in a statement that, "During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct more than 30 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human physiology and technological industrial advancements."
