US private aerospace company Axiom Space has announced the list of the first three tourists to fly to the International Space Station on the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Their names were published on the official website of the company.

In addition to the former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, who will lead the mission, investors from the USA and Canada Larry Connor and Mark Pathy, as well as Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, will fly into space. The space tourists signed a contract with Axiom Space in November 2020.

Axiom Space and SpaceX to Fly Private Astronauts to the ISS
No exact date when the space tourists will go into orbit has been announced. The company says it will happen no earlier than at the end of 2021.
Eva LundAxiom News

In March 2020, Axiom Space and SpaceX agreed to deliver three space tourists to the ISS. It is assumed that such a tour will last ten days: the flight will take two days, and the stay at the station will take eight days.

One day of the mission will cost each of the tourists $35 thousand. That is, all three participants of the flight will pay the company $840 thousand. These costs also include food, a place on the ISS, and communications. The flight is supposed to take place no earlier than at the end of 2021.

Axiom Space is an American aerospace company founded by Michael Suffredini, former program manager for the International Space Station at NASA from 2005 to 2015.

Crew Dragon is the first private manned spacecraft produced by SpaceX. It was created as part of the NASA Commercial Crew Program for the development of private manned spacecraft. It can accommodate up to seven crew members or four people and cargo on board.