The first completely private space mission reached the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday, where it will last just a week.

The mission is made up of three businessmen and a former astronaut who flew on a SpaceX rocket.

The commander of the Ax-1 mission, American-Spanish Michael López-Alegria, Canadian Mark Pethe, American Larry Connor and Israeli Ayton Stibbe emerged one after another from the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The crew members of the ISS were greeted with hugs and camera flashes.

Larry Connor said he was “delighted and honored” to participate in the experience, but was also aware of the “responsibility” of this first mission, made up of “citizens”, preparing for “a busy week of research”. were.

The other three crew members paid tens of millions of dollars each for the experiment. The pilot role is occupied by Larry Connor, who heads a real estate company.

Mark Pethe is the boss of an investment company and ex-pilot Eyton Stibbe is the co-founder of an investment fund.

Novices have already visited the space station, especially in the 2000s. Last year, Russia sent a film crew there, then a Japanese billionaire. But they were accompanied by astronauts aboard Soyuz rockets.

with MAP