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04/12/2022 – Ephemeris – The Axiom-1 mission is on orbit now
This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 12th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 20 minutes, setting at 8:24, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:01. The Moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 6:01 tomorrow morning.
The four private astronauts of the Axiom Space-1 mission were launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Capsule last Friday and are now aboard the International Space Station, or ISS for short, working on their own experiments during their eight-day stay. Around 2024 Axiom Space will attach a module to the ISS, and it will add other modules over the years. One of the last will be a solar power module, which will make their part of the station self-sustaining. By 2030 they will be able to detach their modules from the ISS to orbit free. This will allow continuous habitation in space after the ISS is deorbited in the 2031 time frame. Around that time frame, Blue Origin and Sierra Space and others hope to have their space station Orbital Reef on orbit. By then, NASA will save money by renting, rather than buying.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
The planned evolution of the Axiom space station. It will start being a module attached to the ISS. Various modules will be attached. After the power tower containing solar panels is attached, it can be detached from the ISS to fly free. Click on the image to enlarge. Credit Axiom Space.
As far as the Artemis-1 Wet Dress Rehearsal is concerned, that was scrubbed April 2nd and again on the 3rd, but they got farther. That’s the growing pains of a new rocket and launch tower. The Wet Dress Rehearsal will pick up again this week. The next scheduling conflict will be the preparation and launch of the Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station now scheduled for April 21st. The Artemis-1 rocket is located on launch pad 39B, while SpaceX will launch Crew-4 from pad 39A, just 1.67 miles (2.69 kilometers) south of 39B.
04/05/2022 – Ephemeris – The first Axiom Space mission to the ISS amid a busy April
This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, April 5th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 59 minutes, setting at 8:15, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:14. The Moon, halfway from new to first quarter, will set at 1:15 tomorrow morning.
One of the commercial entities working to launch their own space station is Axiom Space, founded in 2016. The first Axiom mission is Ax-1, an 8-day mission to the International Space Station that, as of when I am recording this last Sunday night, is scheduled for tomorrow on a SpaceX Falcon 9/Crew Dragon from launch pad 39A at Cape Canaveral. The Artemis-1 wet dress rehearsal was halted earlier Sunday due to a pressurization problem with the mobile launch tower. That’s on pad 39B, a bit over a mile and a half away. I’m assuming that Artemis-1 has priority over the Axiom mission. Plus, there’s the SpaceX Crew-5 launch later this month to the space station, which also has president. It could be an interesting time at the Cape.
The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.
Addendum
April 4, 2022: The SpaceX Axiom-1 launch is now scheduled for no earlier than Friday, April 8, for an 8-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX Crew-4 launch had previously been pushed back to April 20. The Crew-3 return from the ISS was to be 5 days later.
The Artemis-1 Wet Dress Rehearsal was scrubbed April 4th with a malfunctioning vent valve. A successful test will have fuel and oxidizer loaded and all prelaunch functions completed, and counted down to a bit over 9 seconds to launch.
Axiom Space: space station plan
The planned evolution of the Axiom commercial space station. It will start being a module attached to the ISS starting in 2024, according to the current plan. Various modules will be attached. After the power tower containing solar panels is attached, it can be detached from the ISS to fly free. Click on the image to enlarge. Credit: Axiom Space.
Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog 