On January 18, 2024, four private astronauts blasted off from Florida to visit the International Space Station. They are part of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), the third private spaceflight organized by Axiom Space and SpaceX.
The Ax-3 crew consists of Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut and the commander of the mission Walter Villadei, an Italian pilot and entrepreneur Alper Gezeravcı, a Turkish engineer and philanthropist and Marcus Wandt, a Swedish scientist and ESA project astronaut.
They will spend two weeks in space, doing various activities and experiments. Some of the things they will do include testing new technologies, talking to students around the world, and studying how microgravity affects the human body and different materials.
