The first private crew to dock with the International Space Station ISS

The Crew Dragon spacecraft connected to the ISS at about 8:30 am on 9/4 US time (ie 19:30 pm Vietnam time). Joining this mission are Axiom Vice President Michael Lopez-Alegria, American businessman Larry Connor, Canadian investor Mark and Israeli businessman Ethan Stibbe.

Axiom-1 is the first commercial mission with private astronauts to set foot on the ISS. Four crew members will have 8 days on the space station to conduct research science and biomedical sciences, along with 7 permanent members of the station including 3 American astronauts, 3 Russian cosmonauts and a German cosmonaut.

NASA’s Webcast captures images showing the four smiling Axiom-1 astronauts wearing navy blue suits being warmly greeted by the ISS permanent crew with hugs and handshakes.

This space mission is a partnership between startups Axiom, SpaceX and NASA, and is seen as the next step of commercial space ventures in the low-Earth orbit economy.