The four-member Axiom Mission 1 crew, including Montreal entrepreneur Mark Pathy, is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Saturday aboard the first all-private charter flight to the ISS.
SpaceX launched its Crew Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday for the 10-day mission, with the passengers scheduled to spend eight days on the space station.
Financier and philanthropist Pathy, Ohio real estate and tech entrepreneur Larry Connor, and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe each paid $55 million US for the rocket ride and stay at the ISS. Joining them is retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who works for Houston-based startup Axiom Space Inc.
The mission includes a series of science experiments. Pathy has said he’ll be helping to test something called holoportation, a new technology that uses virtual reality for communication.
He and a colleague at mission control on the ground will us VR headsets to share their experiences. Pathy will also be participating in surveys of Earth from space.
The spacecraft is set to dock to the Harmony module’s space-facing port once it arrives.
WATCH | Docking is scheduled at 7:45 a.m. ET:
