Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe and mission commander Michael López-Alegría will lead the "Rakia" space mission, the Israel Space Agency and the Ramon Foundation revealed Thursday. The name of the overall mission will be Ax-1.
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"Rakia" means "sky" in Hebrew. It appears in the Book of Genesis in the description of the second day of creation, when according to Judaism God separated the Earth from the waters and created the skies. It was chosen by 60% of the people who voted in a Science and Technology Ministry online poll.
The agency further said Stibbe will be joined by investor Larry Connor and philanthropist Mark Pathy. The four will fly aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule with Connor in the pilot's seat and Stibbe and Pathy serving as mission specialists, Takeoff has been pushed back from October 2021 to January 2022.
