Western crew preps Space Station-bound astronaut for Ax-1 mission

View of the International Space Station from the SpaceX Crew Dragon. Photo by Axiom Space - Axiom Space's Ax-1 mission is the first privately crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and Western is going along for the ride. Researchers at the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration (Western Space) have worked with Canadian Mark Pathy, who is one of the astronauts boarding Ax-1, to help the entrepreneur and philanthropist fulfill the theme of his 10-day mission plan: Caring for People and the Planet . Pathy initially partnered with private Canadian space company Leap Biosystems (Leap) for pre-flight planning, working with Leap's chief information officer and former Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut candidate Dr. Adam Sirek, a professor at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and a Western Space member. Leap, led by retired CSA astronaut Dr. Dave Williams, developed and integrated the science payload for Pathy's mission, selecting the experiments and training for the first-time astronaut. "We've been working directly with Mark from the beginning of his decision to go to space. None of the paying astronauts were required to do science, but they all have an interest in giving back.