Work is underway to establish the world's first private, international commercial space station, a complex that would serve a global community of sovereign and private astronauts.
The builders of the Axiom International Commercial Space Station aim to enlarge the landscape of low-Earth orbit, to create what they view as a "historic shift" in human spaceflight.
Making a space outpost available to nations, organizations and individuals could help make living and working in Earth orbit commonplace and support the exploration of deep space, Axiom representatives said.
A busy 2017
Amir Blachman, vice president of strategic development for Houston-based Axiom Space, said the company is shaping its plans to build the International Space Station's (ISS) international, privately owned successor.
The goals are to build an orbiting outpost that will host government agency astronauts, private companies and individuals for research, manufacturing and space exploration systems testing, and to grow a healthy space-tourism business, Blachman said.This year, Axiom's to-do list is hefty.
"We are now deep into conversations with our first nonsovereign astronaut customers," Blachman told Space.com in an exclusive interview. Axiom has begun conversations with 20-plus countries, he said, and is also working out the details with its first research and manufacturing tenant.
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