---
title: "First Entirely-Private Mission to Space Station Names Its Crew"
description: "Axiom Space, the company planning to launch the first entirely-private mission into orbit, just announced its four-person crew."
date: "2021-01-26"
modified: "2021-01-26"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-private-mission-space-station-crew"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "axiom space"
  - "space"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "the digest"
---

# First Entirely-Private Mission to Space Station Names Its Crew

![Axiom Space, the company planning to launch the first entirely-private mission into orbit, just announced its four-person crew.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/axiom.jpg>)
*Futurism \<em\>Image: Futurism\</em\>*

## Private Crew

Axiom Space, the company that wants to build its [own space station](<https://futurism.com/the-first-private-space-station-will-be-equipped-to-manufacture>), just announced the crew for Ax-1: the world's first entirely-private mission into orbit.

The four-man crew, which will be launched in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, looks a bit different from the typical off-world mission. [As *Space.com* notes](<https://www.space.com/axiom-space-ax1-spacex-private-crew-announcement>), members of the crew will become the second and third-oldest people to enter orbit, as one example. Depending on the International Space Station's schedule, the Ax-1 crew could take flight as soon as January 2022, marking a bit of space history as missions move out of government agencies' hands for the first time.

## Roll Call

The crew itself includes four men with a wide range of backgrounds and relevant experience. Retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who's spent hundreds of days in space, is set to serve as the mission's commander, according to *Space.com*, so at least the mission will have experienced leadership.

Joining Lopez-Alegria will be Larry Connor, an American real estate entrepreneur who will serve as pilot for the mission — though *Space.com* notes that SpaceX designed its crewed Dragon capsule to be as autonomous as possible. Then there's former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, who at 63 will become the third-oldest person to enter orbit behind 77-year-old Connor, and finally Canadian investor Mark Pathy.

## Major Investment

Though Ax-1 is being planned through a commercial agreement with NASA, it will use privately-owned spacecraft and be funded with private investments. The mission, if all goes well, will largely serve as a test for Axiom Space's grander ambitions, *Space.com* reports.

Those include building and launching a "[space hotel](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-space-hotel-space-station>)" for mega-wealthy space tourists and, bizarrely, [launching Tom Cruise](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tom-cruise-partners-spacex-film-movie-space>) to the Space Station to film an action movie.

**READ MORE:** [Axiom Space names first private crew to launch to space station](<https://www.space.com/axiom-space-ax1-spacex-private-crew-announcement>) \[*Space.com*\]

**More on Axiom Space:** *[NASA Is Adding a Space Hotel to the Space Station](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-space-hotel-space-station>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)