Falcon 9 launches Axiom-3

Liftoff of SpaceX Falcon 9 Carrying 4 Astronauts to the Space Station. Photo credit Sarah Howard

   Aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom, Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria leads his 2 nd Axiom flight in addition to three space shuttle missions and a launch on a Soyuz rocket. He made ten spacewalks, the ISS record. Born in Spain, his family came to US and brings 40+ years of
aviation experience to the mission.
   Pilot Walter Villadei, 49, earned a masters in Aeronautical Engineering and hails from Italy. He flew on Virgin Unity 23 in 2023, overseeing the zero-G experiments.
   Mission Specialist Alper Gezerauci is a Turkish fighter pilot. The 44-year-old is certified to fly many types of aircraft including the F-16. In addition, he served as a commercial captain for Turkish Airlines.
Rounding out the European travelers, Marcus Wendt,43, is the second person from Sweden to fly in space. A Lieutenant Colonel in his country’s Air Force, he is an experienced test pilot and a member of the ESA Astronaut Reserves.

Axiom-3 Astronauts. Photo credit SpaceX

   The crew was delivered to LC-39/A via black Teslas about four hours before launch. Forty-five minutes before T-zero, final approval was given for propellant loading. The crew access arm was retracted minutes later. Dragon Freedom’s Launch Escape System was armed then thirty-five
minutes before liftoff, super-chilled RP-1 flowed into both stages. Liquid oxygen, needed for combustion, began to fill simultaneously in B1080. Sixteen minutes before t-zero, LOX flowed in the second stage, which is always a brand-new vehicle. Computers ensured milestones were
executed on time, including engine chill-down and tank pressurization. The launch director verified go for launch at T-45 seconds. A flash of green from the TEA / TAB, a liquid used to start the nine Merlin engines, commenced ignition.

   Booster B1080 separation occurred two and a half minutes later. As the second stage ignited its lone engine, the first performed a flip maneuver then a boost-back burn. Grid fins and cold gas thrusters aligned the descending stage. Six minutes after launch, three engines ignited for the entry burn. This began to slow down the rocket as it lowered to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Aligned with LZ-1, the landing burn allowed B1080 to gently touch down on the concrete pad. Moments later, a double sonic boom spread across the local area.

SpaceX First stage booster 1080 landing back at LZ-1. Photos credit Jerry Pike

   The second stage burned for six minutes then shut down. Separation Crew Dragon Freedom occurred three minutes later. The spent stage performed adjustments to line it up with entry and burn-up over the Pacific Ocean.
   The Crew Dragon, on its third trip to space, will take approximately 36 hours to reach the ISS. Docking with (port name) is planned for 4:19 am EST Saturday January 20 th . The spacecraft will remain at the ISS for two weeks then return via splashdown off the Florida coast on February 3rd .
   The Axiom-3 astronauts will perform over thirty experiments, including one known as Ready Pasta Heat and Taste in Microgravity. Technical industrial advancement studies and human physiology research are planned, as well as fifty outreach events.