Cape Canaveral. 5:17 PM. A Space-X Falcon-9 rocket lifts off, marking the first privately operated mission to the ISS. Three entrepreneurs paid $55 million and a veteran NASA astronaut. The company and the American company Axiom intend to develop four Axiom modules attached to the ISS, which will then become fully autonomous, in preparation for the full privatization of the ISS, planned for 2028. Italy and its companies are also involved in this program. Thales Alenia Space (a joint venture between Leonardo and Thales) is designing, developing, and testing the primary structure and the micrometeorite and debris protection system for both “Node 1” and the habitation module (AxH). The latter are part of the first two of the four total modules that will be attached to Node 2 of the ISS by 2025, also built by Thales Alenia Space as approximately 50% of the Station’s habitable volume.
