During a press conference on Thursday, Axiom Space announced the launch date for its Ax-2 mission, which will feature a series of firsts.

During a 12 p.m. EDT virtual press conference, CEO and President of Axiom Space Michael Suffredini announced the launch date for the 10-day mission on the International Space Station.

“We’re really are excited to announce the launch of Ax-2. We set a launch date with NASA for 10:43 p.m. EDT on May 8,” he said.

The mission will take place at the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, stated Axiom Space. 

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon space capsule will carry Commander Peggy Whitson, pilot John Shoffner, and mission specialists Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi to the floating laboratory.

“The crew is quite experienced. They have been training for some time. Both Commander Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner were backups to the Ax-1 mission,” Suffredini said.

According to Axiom Space, the Ax-2 mission is a series of firsts: It is the first private space mission that includes both private astronauts (Whitson works for Axiom Space and Shoffner reportedly paid to be part of the mission) and astronauts of foreign governments.

Astronauts AlQarni, a former fighter pilot, and Barnawi, a breast cancer and stem cancer researcher, are representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Suffredini said that Barnawi will be the first Saudi woman to be in space.

Whitson said she is blessed to be working with her fellow crew members.

“But I actually feel very blessed that I have such an extremely talented crew who has not only met but surpassed the training requirements for this mission,” Whitson said, who added that both she and her crew trained at NASA, SpaceX, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Some of the training included zero-gravity flights, centrifuge, confinement preparation and team building, the commander said.

Another first is that Whitson, who has more than 37 years of NASA experience and is the Human Spaceflight director at Axiom Space, will also be the first woman to command a private space mission, stated the company.

In fact, she has had a lot of firsts of her own and for Whitson, it will be about returning home.

“On her next space mission with Ax-2, she will become the first female commander of a private space mission, adding to her accomplishment as the first female commander of the ISS, the only woman to serve as ISS commander twice, and the first woman, nonmilitary chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office,” stated the company.

Whitson expressed her joy about commanding the mission.

“Space is really changing right now and I’m really excited to be a part of expanding humanity’s access to this amazing frontier,” Whitson said during the press conference.

Those who participated in the press conference were:

• Michael Suffredini, Axiom Space's CEO and president
• Peggy Whitson, Axiom Space's Ax-2 commander
• Mishaal Ashemimry, Saudi Space Agency's microgravity research lead
• Angela Hart, NASA's Commercial LEO Development Program manager
• Joel Montalbano, NASA's International Space Station Program manager
• Sarah Walker, SpaceX's director of Dragon Mission Management

The press conference touched on the more than 22 experiments that the four will be conducting, which Axiom Space stated will be “comprised of science, outreach, and commercial activities.”

Suffredini admitted that it would be a very STEM-oriented mission.

Some of the experiments that the Ax-2 crew will investigate range from a tumor-organ study that is supposed to predict and prevent cancer to technology demonstration that may be used for the future Axiom Station, revealed Whitson.

Another experiment will see how microgravity impacts the nanoparticle assembly of the potential growth of cartilage.

“I don’t know about everybody in the audience, but my knees could use a little of that extra matrix,” Whitson joked.

A different press conference is scheduled for Tuesday, April 11, to reveal more about the mission.

Recently, Axiom Space was chosen by NASA to provide Artemis III mission astronauts with spacesuits when they walk on the moon, which is currently slated for 2025.

In April 2022, SpaceX launched the Ax-1 mission, the first all-private crewed mission, from the same launch pad.