Finally, Ax-1, first private astronaut mission to International Space Station, docks after 45-minute delay

The Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) has finally arrived at the International Space Station (ISS).   

The world's first private space mission to ISS docked at the flying outpost on Saturday after making the journey of almost 21 hours.  

In a statement, NASA said that Crew Dragon Endeavour docked to the orbital complex. This comes as the spacecraft was flying about 418 km above the Atlantic Ocean.  

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The docking of the Dragon Endeavour was delayed by around 45 minutes due to a glitch. "Mission teams worked to route video using a SpaceX ground station to the crew on the space station allowing Dragon to proceed with docking," said NASA.  

The crew was welcomed by Expedition 67 crew members. It includes NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Marshburn and Kayla Barron, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Korsokov, Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveev and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer.  

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The four-member crew of the Ax-1 has been selected by Houston-based startup Axiom Space Inc. It is the landmark debut spaceflight for the firm. It is sending three customers, who have paid for the flight and an Axiom employee Michael López-Alegría to the ISS for an eight-day stay.    

López-Alegría, who is also a former NASA astronaut, is leading the mission. While the other three are pilot Larry Connor and mission specialists, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy. The four astronauts will stay and work on the flying outpost.      

The team is carrying equipment and supplies for 26 science and technology experiments, which will be conducted before they head home.      

(With inputs from agencies)