Image: NASA
Axiom Mission 2
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2023-05-21 |
|---|---|
| Launch site | Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| Launch vehicle | Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1080.1) |
| Spacecraft | Crew Dragon Freedom (second flight) |
| Target | Low Earth Orbit |
| Type | Crewed |
| End date | 2023-05-31 |
| Recovery | Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, Florida |
| Duration | 9 days, 5 hours |
| Partners | Axiom Space, SpaceX, NASA, Saudi Space Agency |
Overview
Axiom Space's second private mission to the International Space Station launched on 21 May 2023 at 21:37 UTC, and made history before its crew even reached orbit: the brand-new Falcon 9 booster flew itself back to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral, the first ground landing ever performed on a crewed flight. In command of Crew Dragon Freedom was Peggy Whitson — the record-holding former NASA astronaut, now with Axiom — becoming the first woman to command a private space mission on her fourth trip to orbit. American aviator and investor John Shoffner flew as pilot, while the Saudi Space Agency's Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi flew as mission specialists, the first Saudi astronauts to visit the ISS. Barnawi, a biomedical scientist, became the first Saudi woman in space, continuing the stem-cell and breast-cancer research she had pursued on the ground; the crew's roughly 20 experiments also spanned human physiology and technology demonstrations, alongside extensive outreach to students across Saudi Arabia. Freedom docked on 22 May and spent eight days at the station before undocking on 30 May and splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico off Panama City at 03:04 UTC on 31 May, closing a nine-day flight that broadened both the commercial and international reach of Axiom's program.
Crew
Peggy Whitson
Commander
First woman to command a private space mission; fourth spaceflight for the US cumulative time-in-space record holder
John Shoffner
Pilot
American aviator, investor and motorsport driver
Ali AlQarni
Mission Specialist
Saudi Space Agency astronaut and fighter pilot; among the first Saudis aboard the ISS
Rayyanah Barnawi
Mission Specialist
Biomedical scientist; first Saudi woman in space
Key Milestones
2023-05-21
Launch from LC-39A at 21:37 UTC; booster B1080 makes the first return-to-launch-site landing on a crewed flight
2023-05-22
Crew Dragon Freedom docks with the ISS; AlQarni and Barnawi become the first Saudi astronauts aboard the station
2023-05-24
Barnawi leads stem-cell and breast-cancer research in orbit as part of a ~20-experiment program
2023-05-30
Freedom undocks from the ISS after eight days at the station
2023-05-31
Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, Florida, at 03:04 UTC
Key Achievements
Peggy Whitson became the first woman to command a private space mission
Rayyanah Barnawi became the first Saudi woman in space; she and Ali AlQarni were the first Saudi astronauts aboard the ISS
First crewed launch with a Falcon 9 first-stage landing back at Cape Canaveral's Landing Zone 1
Completed roughly 20 research experiments and extensive STEM outreach in eight days docked
Legacy & Significance
Ax-2 turned Axiom's private-mission concept into a vehicle for national spaceflight programs, flying Saudi Arabia's first astronauts since Sultan bin Salman Al Saud's 1985 shuttle flight and its first woman in space. Whitson's command bridged the NASA and commercial eras in a single career, while the seat-purchase model pioneered here — a sovereign agency buying a turnkey science mission — became the template for Türkiye, ESA partners, India, Poland and Hungary on the Axiom flights that followed.
