The ‘terrible’ numbers of the historic flight of 4 private astronauts

Private astronauts (centre) take pictures with experts on the ISS – Photo: NASA

Is called “historic flight” because all 4 astronauts flying to the International Space Station (ISS) are not professional astronauts but rich businessmen, only one is a former NASA astronaut but has long retired. Here are the “terrible” numbers of the flight:

1,263 billion VND for 17 days

The trip costs huge amounts of money. The ticket price for this trip is 55 million USD/person, about 1,263 billion VND.

According to the original schedule, the group of 4 people will stay 8 days in orbit. However, the bad weather made them have to stayed 17 days, including 15 days on the ISS.

Astronaut U70, 80

Larry Connor becomes the 2nd oldest person in space – Photo: NASA

The four crew members include commander Michael Lopez-Alegría (63 years old), former NASA astronaut, Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe (64 years old), Canadian investor Mark Pathy (52 years old) and investor real estate investor Larry Connor (72 years old) in Ohio.

In particular, Larry Connor, 72, is the second oldest person to fly into space, after Canadian actor William Shatner, 90, into space in 2021.

More than 1,000 hours of pre-flight training

Many times Axiom Space emphasized that although the cost is expensive, this is not exactly a space tour. Billionaire Larry Connor also confirmed this. He said he underwent more than 1,022 hours of training in space skills before officially leaving.

“A space tourist usually only has to train for 10-15 hours, and we have to complete more than 1,000 hours. We also have to pass a lot of rigorous tests, both physical and ant tests. profound knowledge, meets the standards no less than an astronaut,” Connor – founder of real estate group The Connor Group with a fortune of more than $ 3 billion – revealed.

Travel nearly 10 million kilometers

Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying private astronauts to and from Earth – Photo: NASA

The crew traveled 9.66 million kilometers during their flight.

Crew Dragon’s flight speed is up to 2,816km/h, after hitting the Earth’s atmosphere it is still more than 600km/h.

Do dozens of experiments

In addition to enjoying the trip to the ISS, the private crew has also conducted nearly 30 scientific and biomedical experiments, collaborating with experts on the ISS and from research centers on Earth. Experiments include cardiovascular health, body cognitive functioning.

The team also experimented with using cancer stem cells to grow small tumours, and then leveraged the accelerated aging environment of microgravity to identify early changes in those tumours. find out how to improve screening methods.

Private astronauts do experiments outside the ISS – Photo: NASA