Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

According to three people familiar with the matter, Saudi Arabia plans to take two astronauts on SpaceX's manned dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, buying two seats on the spacecraft for an unknown price.

The agreement was signed privately by Saudi Arabia earlier this year with Axiom Space, a Houston-based company, according to anonymous sources. Axiom Space mainly arranges private space missions to the International Space Station for researchers and tourists.

Sources said that under the terms of the agreement, two Saudi astronauts will travel to the International Space Station in SpaceX's manned dragon spacecraft and stay for about a week.

Axiom Space and Saudi Arabia did not comment.

With the commercialization of NASA's manned space business in low-Earth orbit, private companies in the United States are playing an increasingly important role in transporting astronauts to the International Space Station. At present, NASA's main focus is on the return of astronauts to the moon.

Saudi astronauts will travel to the International Space Station with two Americans, retired NASA astronaut Peggy Peggy Whitson and race car driver and investor John Shoffner, according to sources.

The mission, called Ax-2, will be the second manned space mission arranged by Axiom Space.

A US official said the private astronauts of the Ax-2 mission had not yet been approved by a panel of international space station participants including Russia, Canada, Japan and the European space agency.

The official also said the mission is likely to be approved.

In April, Axiom launched its first private space mission to the International Space Station, using SpaceX's manned dragon spacecraft to send four astronauts to the International Space Station, including a Canadian investor and an Israeli businessman.

Axiom also announced on Monday that it had reached an agreement with Turkey to send the first two Turkish astronauts into space by the end of 2023.

According to a person familiar with the matter, the manned space flight is likely to be an Ax-3 mission.

Axiom Space Corporation's manned space mission can gain vital experience for the company to deploy its own private space station.

After the International Space Station is decommissioned around 2030, Axiom plans to ship and install modules to the International Space Station before breaking it up and turning it into a completely private space station.

The price at which Axiom Space reached an agreement with Saudi Arabia is unclear. In the first manned space mission of Axiom Space, the price of each seat of the manned dragon spacecraft was $55 million.

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