Ax-3: The Dawn of Private Astronauts

Three countries, including Italy, have purchased a private expedition from Axiom Space for their astronauts. It marks a paradigm shift: more flight opportunities to the International Space Station, even for governments, are no longer solely reliant on NASA and Roscosmos rotations and the limited spots available from ESA.

BY EMILIO COZZI

On January 18, 2024, something changed.

When SpaceX’s Falcon 9 detached from the Kennedy Space Center’s 39A ramp, aboard the Crew Dragon capsule was what was presented as “the first all-European crew.” It matters little that the news is imprecise—Yuri Gagarin was also born in the European part of Russia—and it would be more accurate to say that the crew’s origins are European.

Flying into orbit were an American astronaut born in Spain, Michael López-Alegría, the Turkish Alper Gezeravci, the Swedish Marcus Wandt, selected as a reserve by the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Walter Villadei, a colonel in the Air Force. And if one were to attribute them a record, what matters is that Ax-3 was the first private mission to the International Space Station funded by their respective governments (excluding López-Alegría, who operates as an employee of Axiom Space, the “travel agency”).

It means that for the first time, in this case truly, the crew of a mission to the ISS was composed autonomously from the rotations of space agencies and entities.

It’s no coincidence that before the launch, the very definition of astronaut raised some doubts again: beyond the convention that space begins at 50 miles in the United States and 100 kilometers elsewhere, for some, being “astronauts” would necessarily imply surpassing the world’s strictest and most exclusive selection process, subject to the training paths of space agencies.

It’s a distinction not without legitimacy in the case of participants in suborbital flights of Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin—a “leap” of a few minutes at the edge of the sky—or the passengers of Inspiration 4, fortunate individuals who, strictly speaking, had won a lottery. Not so different are the cases of Axiom 1 and 2, with crews mostly consisting of wealthy entrepreneurs eager for an extraterrestrial outing. True, in the case of Ax-2, the astronauts selected by the Saudi Space Commission should be considered an exception. But beyond labels, this time too, the point is not so much to establish whether or not the protagonists of Ax-3 are astronauts, but to highlight their novel definition: López-Alegría, Gezeravci, Wandt, and Villadei are, or at least have flown as, “private astronauts.” And the adjectivization is not a trivial matter.

A New Model

Certifying the “novelty” was Walter Villadei himself, during the press conference before the launch: “Italy is creating a new model, a path parallel to that of the astronaut corps of ESA. It’s a different approach, but it’s proof that the world is changing. A new phase of commercial flight exploitation and low orbit is opening up.”

As a member country of the European Space Agency, Italy committed in 1998 to train its own astronauts within ESA. On the decision of the Air Force, Villadei, excluded from the candidates selected in the European selection of 2009, was sent to Moscow for cosmonaut training. Then, as soon as the opportunity arose, he was assigned to a private mission.

A choice made by other states which, although under different conditions from Italy, have ideally followed the same path: Turkey, not a member of ESA, selected and sent the military pilot Alper Gezeravcı, who, however, travels under the Turkish Space Agency’s insignia. Marcus Wandt, another fighter pilot, was sent by Sweden after being selected by ESA among its reserves.

When an opportunity arises, in fact, reserves can fly with ESA’s insignia, provided that the cost is borne by the originating state. “That’s why we created the reserve corps,” explained Frank De Winne, head of ESA’s Astronaut Centre in Cologne. And that’s why the 43-year-old Swedish engineer’s suit bears the logo of the European Space Agency. Villadei, finally, flies for an Air Force mission.

More Opportunities with Private Entities

Everything seems to suggest the sunset of a model, ready to reverberate even in the imminent epilogue of the International Space Station. The presence and transportation to low orbit will no longer be the exclusive affair of states but also of private entities, from which space agencies and governments will purchase a service, just as “ordinary” citizens can (the first being Dennis Tito, in 2001). At least initially, stays will be of a few weeks, not greatly affecting crew turnovers dictated by NASA and Roscosmos (whose expeditions last, on average, six months).

Precisely because of the long duration of missions, flight opportunities are currently scarce: ESA, due to its marginal contribution compared to the United States to the costs of the ISS (8.3 percent), has few opportunities to put its own astronaut in the seat of a Dragon or a Soyuz. “We don’t have many flights, so we can’t give each Member State an astronaut,” reflects De Winne, as reported by The New York Times. Axiom was the first to open a new path.

So Villadei, qualified first to operate a Soyuz, found the flight opportunity after training with Axiom Space and NASA. Italy and Sweden paid separately for the mission, an additional expense compared to the funding guaranteed to ESA (Italy is the third contributor after France and Germany, but in the last selections, obtained only two spots in the reserves, Anthea Comellini and Andrea Patassa).

Certainly, there are the over 33 million indicated in the Air Force budget for Colonel Villadei’s “ISS Transport Service.” It’s impossible to say who provided the remainder, although private support is not to be excluded (Barilla, Dallara, Technogym, Gvm Assistance with PwC Italy, Spacewear, and Rea Space fly into orbit with Villadei for research on their products, as we wrote here). The same happened for Marcus Wandt: Swedish media talk about 450 million crowns, about 40 million euros, two-thirds paid by the government and one-third by private entities like Saab Aerospace, which assigned Wandt technological experiments to carry out on board the Station. Poland and the UK also have agreements with Axiom to fly their own astronauts, a path independent of ESA selections.

Everyone Wants the Best

Why this choice? Firstly, because opportunities have now increased, even for shorter orbital stays. Then because space and weightlessness offer conditions not replicable on Earth and guarantee that top-notch work can be done for research and innovation in new materials, drugs, and advanced technologies. On the ISS today, it’s normal to count eleven people, whereas before there were at most nine. Being tied to the few spots made available by rotations and selections of space agencies is limiting. And as reaching space and staying there for days still costs tens of millions—an enormous economic effort—some companies might decide to do it. Meanwhile, tests and experiments are sent with private astronauts, contributing to costs.

It is increasingly clear to everyone—especially to Italy, which has had an agreement with Axiom since 2018—that the path to orbit will soon be in the hands of commercial companies. Once the ISS is decommissioned, there will be commercial space stations serving as orbiting laboratories, and research hubs, but also as hotels, entertainment venues, and movie sets: the first Russian film on the ISS has already been shot, and we await Tom Cruise’s landing precisely with an Axiom mission.

It’s hard not to interpret all of this as an irreversible process: where previously only the public acted, capable of deploying the gigantic potential of space activities, it’s now the time of private entities, of which governments will become clients.

For now, we remain in a middle ground, where two models coexist, destined to hybridize in ways not easy to predict. Will space agencies disappear? Almost certainly not; it’s much more likely, indeed, that they will (return to) push the forefront of human space exploration. Perhaps even relying on teams of professionals trained on private facilities and programs, in orbit, before being sent to the Moon.

Until, in a few decades, lunar landscapes too will host bases and settlements, and the process, at that point, could repeat itself for Mars.