We are just days away from the historic Axiom-1 mission, which will be the first to send an all private citizen astronaut crew to space.

What You Need To Know

  • The Axiom-1 is the first mission to space manned only by private citizen astronauts

  • The craft will travel to the ISS

  • Each astronaut spent from 750 to 1,000 hours in training for this flight

The four-member Ax-1 crew is looking forward to their historic flight in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which will take the crew to the International Space Station.

"This is opening a new era in human spaceflight," said Axiom Mission Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria. "It's going to bring working, living and research in space to a much broader and more international audience."

Throughout the eight days in orbit, the crew will be guided by specialists at the Axiom Space Mission Control Center in Houston. The team will work with the astronauts to ensure their scientific research on board the orbiting outpost is accomplished.

The citizen astronauts have spent 750 to 1,000 hours training, and will perform 25 hours of research over a 100 hour period on the ISS.

"We understand this first mission is a big honor and a big opportunity," said Axiom Mission Pilot Larry Connor. "But with that comes a big responsibility. That is to execute the mission correctly, and successfully."

Lopez-Alegria and Connor are joined by crew-mates mission specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy. The effort is the first step in Axiom's goal of one day constructing a private space station.​ The Axiom-1 mission is set to blast off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 at 12:05 p.m. April 6, from Kennedy Space Center.

Spectrum News will be covering the event live.