BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – On Thursday evening, visitors along the Space Coast were anticipating witnessing the first privately crewed mission to the International Space Station.
The Axiom launch set for 11:17 a.m. Friday is expected to launch four people into space for an eight-day trip. While onboard the ISS, the crew is scheduled to conduct several experiments.
Visitor Paul Jaffe from Virginia said he brought his family to Titusville to see the launch.
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“This will be the grand finale for spring break,” Jaffe said. “We are scoping out where we can watch tomorrow’s launch with an opportunity to see the pad and also hopefully hear the sound pretty well.”
Jaffe said he works as a space engineer and wanted his two young sons to witness history.
“I actually have a payload on the space station now,” Jaffe said. “The first private flight to the space stations. This is like another historic first for commercial space flight.”
Axiom is privately funding the mission with the goal of eventually constructing an orbiting space station similar to the ISS. The crew will launch from inside the same SpaceX Dragon capsule used to transport NASA astronauts to the ISS previously.
It’s reported the three paying members of the flight, each paid about $50 million for a seat.
The Space Coast Office of Tourism anticipates several million dollars in economic impact in Brevard County related to the launch.