Axiom Astronaut Launch: How and When to Watch

A private astronaut mission is scheduled to launch on Thursday to the International Space Station. But unlike on earlier such flights, none of the passengers are wealthy space tourists paying their own way to orbit.

Instead, three nations are taking advantage of new commercial possibilities to send astronauts from government space programs to the orbital outpost. For Turkey, it will be the country’s first astronaut.

The private astronaut mission is the third for a Houston-based company, which has been sending paying customers for two-week stays at the International Space Station. In 2019, a space agency opened up its part of the space station to visitors.

The launch, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, is scheduled for 4:49 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch had been scheduled for Wednesday but was delayed by one day for vehicle checkouts and data analysis.