Axiom Space is launching its fourth mission to the ISS on June 10. This one is a “victory lap,” says new CEO Tejpaul Bhatia.
Ax-4 is Axiom’s second mission carrying exclusively national government astronauts. India, Poland, and Hungary each get their second-ever human in space on this flight.
This mission will also be Axiom’s first to break even financially. The first three missions lost money. Bhatia stressed these crew flights aren’t the company’s long-term business. 
Axiom’s real goal: building commercial modules attached to the ISS that eventually detach and form a free-flying Axiom Station.
The missions bring revenue and hype. They give countries “Apollo moments” and mark the shift from Space Race 1.0 to 2.0, Bhatia said.
“It shows how space is opening up because of commercial companies,”
Bhatia explained.
“For all three countries, this will be their second astronaut ever. And it shows the switch from Space Race 1.0 to Space Race 2.0.”
So far, Axiom uses SpaceX Dragon capsules for ferrying astronauts to the ISS. The company acts as a “marketplace integrator and broker” to manage these missions.
Bhatia sees the commercial space market exploding. No single country can go it alone to become multi-planetary.
“To become multi-planetary, that’s not something where one country has all the capabilities,” he said.
The launch happens as tensions flare between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Trump canceled contracts with Musk’s companies. Musk threatened to retire the Dragon capsule but appeared to soften later.
Axiom declined to comment on that feud. Bhatia took the opportunity to highlight the importance of entrepreneurs over government funding to open space.
“It’s not that government investment will open space,"
he said.
“They’ve already done it. [Now] it’s the entrepreneurs who will use the commercial platforms to build the bridge to the next stage.”
Bhatia just stepped in as CEO. Previously he was chief revenue officer at Axiom and worked at Google Cloud. He’s dreamed of going to space since he was young.
“I would love to go,” Bhatia said.
“I have no doubt that we will all go.”
Watch the mission announcement:
