SpaceX launches three visitors to space station for $55 million each

Russia has been hosting tourists at the space station and before that the Mir station for decades. Just last fall, a Russian movie crew flew up, followed by a Japanese fashion tycoon and his assistant.

NASA is finally getting into the act, after years of opposing space station visitors.

Their tickets include access to all but the Russian portion of the space station they'll need permission from the three cosmonauts on board. Three Americans and a German also live up there.

Former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, the chaperone, plans to avoid talking about politics and the war in Ukraine while he's at the space station.

"I honestly think that it wont be awkward. I mean maybe a tiny bit," he said. He expects the spirit of collaboration will shine through.

The private Axiom Space company arranged the visit with NASA for its three paying customers: Larry Connor of Dayton, Ohio, who runs the Connor Group; Mark Pathy, founder and CEO of Montreal's Mavrik Corp; and Israel's Eytan Stibbe, a former fighter pilot and founding partner of Vital Capital.

Before the launch, their enthusiasm was obvious: Stibbe did a little dance when he arrived at the rocket at Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX and NASA have been upfront with them about the risks of spaceflight, said Lopez-Alegria, who spent seven months at the space station 15 years ago.

"There's no fuzz, I think, on what the dangers are or what the bad days could look like," Lopez-Alegria told The Associated Press before the flight.

Each visitor has a full slate of experiments to conduct during their nine to 10 days there, one reason they don't like to be called space tourists.

"They're not up there to paste their nose on the window," said Axioms co-founder and president, Michael Suffredini, a former NASA space station programme manager.

The three businessmen are the latest to take advantage of the opening of space to those with deep pockets. Jeff Bezos rocket company Blue Origin is taking customers on 10-minute rides to the edge of space, while Virgin Galactic expects to start flying customers on its rocket ship later this year.

Fridays flight is the second private charter for Elon Musk's SpaceX, which took a billionaire and his guests on a three-day orbit ride last year.

Axiom is targeting next year for its second private flight to the space station. More customer trips will follow, with Axiom adding its own rooms to the orbiting complex beginning in 2024. After about five years, the company plans to detach its compartments to form a self-sustaining station one of several commercial outposts intended to replace the space station once it’s retired and NASA shifts to the moon.

At an adjacent pad during Fridays launch: NASA's new moon rocket, which is awaiting completion of a dress rehearsal for a summertime test flight.

As a gift for their seven station hosts, the four visitors are taking up paella and other Spanish cuisine prepared by celebrity chef Jos Andrs. The rest of their time at the station, NASAs freeze-dried chow will have to do.

The automated SpaceX capsule is due back with the four on April 19.