Axiom Space announces crew of Ax-3 private mission to the ISS

Today Axiom Space announced who will be flying to the ISS early next year on the third private astronaut mission. This mission will feature a return Axiom astronaut as well as an all European crew.

Axiom launching first all European crew to ISS

NASA approved the flight of Axiom Mission 3, Ax-3, to the International Space Station for no earlier than January 2024. As the name would imply, this will be Axiom’s third mission to orbit, all three so far going to the ISS. This mission will be a little different from the previous flights as on Ax-3, all three customers are in partnership with governments or government agencies flying their selected members to space.

The their crew members are Walter Villadei, who will be Ax-3’s pilot, and Alter Gezeravci and Marcus Wandt as mission specialists. The three all from their respective nation’s Air Forces with extensive military training. The nations represented on this mission are Itally through Villadei, Türkiye through Gezeravci, Sweden through the ESA with Wandt, and the US/Spain with the Ax-3’s commander, Michael Lòpez-Alegría.

That’s right, Michael LA, former NASA astronaut and Chief Astronaut for Axiom, will return to space for the sixth time on Ax-3. He will serve as the commander of the mission just like he did for Ax-1 in 2022. A requirement of NASA to allow these private astronaut mission to the ISS is they are commanded by a former NASA astronaut. Which opens up a line of work for former astronauts leaving the agency other than consulting.

The four will fly to the station in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that is launched on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. Ax-3 will stay on the ISS for about 14 days before returning when weather allows it. On station the crew will perform scientific research, public outreach, and commercial operations along side the expedition crew on the station.

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Meet the crew

Michael Lòpez-Alegría

Born in Madrid, Spain and emigrated over to the United States with him family, LA went on to become a US Navy test pilot and then NASA astronaut. He was selected in 1992 and flew on three Space Shuttle mission and Soyuz TMA-9 where he served on Expedition 14 on the ISS. With 10 spacewalks during his NASA career, he is one of the most proficient spacewalker out there. Which I can imagine will be pretty useful when building your own space station.

As stated earlier, LA was assigned as commander of the Ax-1 mission, the first private mission to the ISS. At 65, LA is up there in years for astronauts but not yet the oldest, that title still goes to John Glenn who flew on STS-95 at the age of 77 in 1998. While usually NASA crews have both a spacecraft commander and mission commander, LA will do both and be in command of the spacecraft and in charge of the Axiom astronauts that join him while on the station. Although there will be plenty of help from ground controllers to keep the crew on task, just like NASA.

Walter Villadei

Villadei is actually a returner to our discussion of private spaceflight because this is his second trip to space. A colonel in the Italian Air Force, Villadei flew on Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 01 mission earlier this year to conduct high altitude and micro-gravity research.

He will serve as Ax-3’s pilot, with flight experience across several aircraft, previous spaceflight experience, and Russian cosmonaut training, he sure has the resumé for it. He will be the second non-US pilot of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Alter Gezeravci

Gezeravci comes from Türkiye’s Air Force, both as a combat pilot and trainer, and will be the nation’s first astronaut. Besides his military career, he was also a commercial pilot for Turkish Airlines. Gezeravci will be one of two mission specialist on Ax-3.

Marcus Wandt

Coming from Sweden and is a sponsored astronaut of the European Space Agency, Wandt was originally selected to be a part of the ESA’s astronaut reserve corp. Upon his selection for Ax-3 he moved to be a career or project astronaut until the completion of this mission.

Wandt served as both a wing commander and test pilot in the Swedish Air Force, graduating top of his class when attending the US Naval Test Pilot School. He will be the second Swedish astronaut to visit the ISS.