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NASA Coverage Set for Axiom Mission 1 Departure from Space Station

The 11-person crew aboard the International Space Station
The 11-person crew aboard the station comprises of (clockwise from bottom right) Expedition 67 Commander Tom Marshburn with Flight Engineers Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, Sergey Korsakov, Raja Chari, Kayla Barron, and Matthias Maurer; and Axiom Mission 1 astronauts (center row from left) Mark Pathy, Eytan Stibbe, Larry Conner, and Michael Lopez-Alegria.
u003cstrongu003eCredits: NASAu003c/strongu003e

Editor’s Note: This advisory is no longer current as of Thursday, April 21, as the agency issued a new coverage advisory for the undocking of the Axiom 1 Mission now targeted for Saturday, April 23.

Editor’s Note: This advisory was updated on Wednesday, April 20, after NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX adjusted the undocking of Axiom Mission 1 to Saturday, April 23.

Editor’s Note: This advisory was updated on Tuesday, April 19, after NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX waved off the undocking opportunity for the Axiom 1 mission from the International Space Station on Tuesday due to unfavorable weather conditions for return.

Editor’s Note: This advisory was updated on Monday, April 18, to update times for the mission’s hatch closure, undocking, and splashdown.

NASA will provide live coverage of the undocking and departure of the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) prior to its return to Earth from the International Space Station.

The four-member private astronaut crew is scheduled to undock at 8:35 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 23, to begin the journey home and splash down off the coast of Florida about 1:46 p.m. Sunday, April 24. The integrated teams at Axiom Space, NASA and SpaceX have agreed on the adjusted return plan based on the best weather for splashdown of the first private astronaut mission to visit the International Space Station and the return trajectory required to bring the crew and the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft back to Earth safely.  

Teams will monitor weather at the splashdown sites prior to undocking to ensure conditions are acceptable for a safe recovery of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Ax-1 astronauts. 

NASA and Axiom Space began coverage on Saturday, April 23, beginning at 6:15 p.m. with coverage of hatch closure preparations, which will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, the agency’s website, and the company’s website.

Ax-1 Commander Michael López-Alegría, Pilot Larry Connor, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy will complete 16 days in space at the conclusion of their mission. SpaceX Dragon Endeavour, the Ax-1 spacecraft, will return to Earth with more than 200 pounds of science and supplies, including NASA experiments and hardware.

NASA Ax-1 return coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):

Saturday, April 23

6:15 p.m. – Coverage begins for 6:30 p.m. hatch closure

8:15 p.m. – Coverage begins for 8:35 p.m. undocking

NASA coverage will break between the above events, and undocking coverage will end approximately 30 minutes after undocking when joint operations with the Axiom and SpaceX mission teams ends.

Axiom Space will resume coverage of Dragon’s re-entry and splashdown beginning at 12:45 p.m. Sunday, April 24, on the company’s website.

The Ax-1 mission represents both a culmination of NASA’s efforts to foster a commercial market in low-Earth orbit and the beginning of a new era of space exploration that enables more people to fly on more kinds of missions. This partnership is changing the arc of human spaceflight history by opening access to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station to more people, more science, and more commercial opportunities.

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Stephanie Schierholz / Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov

Gary Jordan
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
gary.j.jordan@nasa.gov

Stephanie Schierholz / Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
stephanie.schierholz@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Gary Jordan
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
gary.j.jordan@nasa.gov