The astronauts of the first-ever absolutely non-public crewed mission to the International Space Station will commemorate their groundbreaking flight with some digital art work.
The Ax-1 mission, which was organized by Houston firm Axiom Space, launched on Friday (April 8) and arrived on the orbiting lab on Saturday morning (April 9). The mission is flying on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour.
Ax-1 is commanded by Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut and present Axiom worker. He’s joined by three Axiom clients — Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe, every of whom reportedly paid about $55 million for the journey.
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The crewmembers will flex their creative muscular tissues throughout the 10-day mission. For instance, López-Alegría “will create a piece from space, representing his own personal experience of the overview effect,” Axiom representatives said in a statement (opens in new tab) Friday. (The overview effect is the transformational shift in perspective that many astronauts report experiencing after seeing Earth from excessive above.)
Pathy will create a digital piece that options his private Ax-1 mission patch, and Stibbe will deliver “an inspirational message of unity, peace and hope with digital artist Amit Shimoni,” Axiom representatives stated.
“In addition to the crewmembers’ personal art, famed artist Michael Kagan, known for his paintings and sculptures of iconic images of space exploration, has created exclusive pieces to commemorate the Ax-1 mission, including an augmented-reality 3D spacewalker,” they added.
These items and extra might be accessible for buy on Axiom Space’s NFT market, the existence of which the corporate introduced on Friday as properly. (NFTs, quick for “non-fungible tokens,” are items of knowledge, saved in a digital ledger referred to as a blockchain, that signify distinctive belongings.)
“We’re pleased to debut the official Axiom Space NFTs to the global space community,” Tejpaul Bhatia, Axiom Space’s chief income officer, stated in the identical assertion. “It has been our mission to make the dream of traveling to space a reality for more of humanity, and our digital artwork offering is a first step in getting everyone involved.”
You can be taught extra at Axiom’s NFT marketplace site (opens in new tab).
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e-book in regards to the seek for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
