Saudi Arabia buys two SpaceX astronaut spots from Axiom

Kingdom's first two private space travellers will stay for about a week early next year

Private US space companies are playing an increasing role as Nasa focuses on returning humans to the Moon. Collins Aerospace / AFP

Saudi Arabia is planning to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a space capsule from Elon Musk's SpaceX, sources say.

The deal makes the kingdom the latest Gulf nation to strengthen ties with private US space companies.

The sources said the deal was signed privately this year with Houston's Axiom Space, which arranges and manages private missions to space on US spacecraft for researchers and tourists.

Under the deal, two Saudi astronauts will ride SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule to the space station for about a week early next year, the sources said.

The two would be the first from their country to go into space aboard a private spacecraft.

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi at a Nasa press conference. Photo: Nasa

Dr Al Neyadi and his SpaceX/Nasa Crew-6 colleagues speak at a press conference in Houston. Photo: Nasa

Dr Al Neyadi (R) in a Dragon capsule during a training session. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

(L-R) Mission specialist Andrey Fedyaev, pilot William Hoburg, commander Stephen Bowen and Dr Al Neyadi. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

Dr Al Neyadi (R) with colleagues who are part of the SpaceX Crew-6 mission. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

Dr Al Neyadi training inside a Dragon mock-up crew vehicle at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

Dr Al Neyadi training. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

Dr Al Neyadi training in a centrifuge, a robotic machine that simulates gravitational forces. Photo: Sultan Al Neyadi Twitter

The SpaceX Crew-6 team. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

At the launch site in Florida. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

Pointers for success from Dr Al Neyadi, with Mr Fedyaev. Photo: Nasa / SpaceX

Axiom had no immediate comment. Officials with the Saudi Space Commission, Riyadh's space agency founded in 2018, were not immediately available.

Private US companies have increasingly played a key role in sending astronauts to the space station as Nasa turns its focus to returning humans to the Moon and commercialising flights in low-Earth orbit.

The deal is the latest to put companies such as Axiom in a unique role of diplomacy long dominated by government agencies including Nasa.

The space station is a football field-sized laboratory about 400 kilometres above Earth that has held international crews of astronauts for more than 20 years.

The Saudi astronauts will join two previously announced Americans — retired Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson and race car driver and investor John Shoffner — the sources said.

The mission, called Ax-2, will be the second spaceflight arranged by Axiom.

The private astronauts aboard Ax-2 have yet to be approved by a Nasa-chaired panel of the space station's participating stakeholders and countries, such as Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency, a US official said.

The official said the mission was likely to receive approval.

A futuristic 3D-printed space habitat that has been designed to fit inside Elon Musk’s Starship has been unveiled at a school in Switzerland. All photos: Institut auf dem Rosenberg

The Rosenberg Space Habitat is a three-story structure that can house a crew of two.

It is the world’s tallest 3D-printed polymer space habitat and has been set up at the Institut auf dem Rosenberg, a private, international boarding school.

The interior of the habitat.

The entry way into the habitat.

The first floor is dedicated to hygiene, lab research and workshop facilities, the second is for work, recreation and entertainment, and the third is for privacy and rest.

The space habitat was built for analogue missions – field tests that simulate deep-space missions – and will be used as a research centre for students.

A work station in the space habitat.

For Axiom and other space companies, making deals with foreign governments is considered vital to sustaining a business centred on putting people in space — a luxury for wealthy adventure seekers and a source of national prestige and inspiration for aspiring space powers such as Saudi Arabia.

Axiom launched its first private mission to the space station in April, sending a four-man crew, including a Canadian investor and an Israeli businessman, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

And Axiom on Monday announced a deal with Turkey to launch the country's first two astronauts into space in late 2023. That will probably be for mission Ax-3, a source said.

Axiom's astronaut flight business is crucial experience for the company's broader goals of establishing its own private space station by the middle of the decade.

It plans to first attach modules to the ISS before splitting off into a fully private structure when the international laboratory is retired about 2030.

The value of Axiom's Saudi agreement was not clear. Each Crew Dragon seat on Axiom's first mission sold for $55 million.

A small Texas city adapts to life with Elon Musk and SpaceX

A sign for Starbase, Elon Musk's private spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas. All photos: Willy Lowry / The National

Three SpaceX rockets stand ready at Starbase in Boca Chica.

A SpaceX employee works high above the ground on a rocket at the SpaceX launchpad.

A SpaceX rocket rises in the distance.

A sign at Boca Chica Beach warns of sea turtle nesting.

Three Starship rockets stand next to a booster. The reusable rockets are at the centre of SpaceX's plans for the future.

A sign warns passers-by against entering the area around SpaceX's launchpad.

A sign along Texas State Highway 4 warns drivers to watch out for local wildlife.

A SpaceX security guard questions a driver at the entrance to the launch zone.

Amanda Maul and her son, Connor, drove all the way from Dallas to see SpaceX.

SpaceX's Starbase facility sits near the Gulf of Mexico in a remote patch of southern Texas.

Boca Chica Beach, looking south towards Mexico. It is one of the last free public beaches in southern Texas.

Workers prepare to move a Starship rocket.

SpaceX's Starbase rises in the distance.

A sign marks the lines where the Boca Chica National Wildlife Refuge begins along the Texas State Highway 4.

Flowers grow on the dunes of Boca Chica Beach near a SpaceX tower.

A person walks in the Boca Chica Wildlife Refuge next to Starbase.

A view of Starbase from Boca Chica.

Flowers grow on the dunes of Boca Chica Beach near a SpaceX tower.

A sheriff's car parks near SpaceX in Boca Chica.

A sign along a motorway reads: 'We love Elon'.

An exterior sign for Starbase.

Cars parked outside of Starbase in Boca Chica.

Some SpaceX employees stay in Airstream trailers parked near the complex in Boca Chica.

A sign welcomes visitors to Boca Chica Village.

A renovated home in Boca Chica.

A Tesla charges in the driveway of a home in Boca Chica.

A shuttered home in Boca Chica. Elon Musk, the world's richest person, lives in the tiny unincorporated village.

One of two streets in Boca Chica Village, which leads straight to Starbase.

A renovated home in Boca Chica Village. SpaceX has been slowly buying up property in the area for years.

A home in Boca Chica Village. The community used to be mainly made up of retirees, but it is now comprised almost entirely of SpaceX employees.

A Tesla charges in the driveway of a house in Boca Chica.

A sign on a house in Boca Chica Village warns passers-by they are on private property.

A white Tesla sits in the driveway of a recently renovated home in Boca Chica Village.

A sign on a house in Boca Chica Village warns passers-by they are on private property.