The Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) mission spacecraft has successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the third entirely private crewed mission. Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) astronauts Michael López-Alegría, Walter Villadei, Marcus Wandt and Alper Gezeravci have now boarded the International Space Station after the Crew Dragon hatch opened at 7:13 a.m. ET on Saturday, January 20.

The picture shows the Space Exploration Technology Company's (SpaceX) manned Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying four Axiom Mission 3 astronauts docking with the space station shortly after sunrise in orbit. Image source: NASATV

Ax-3 docked with the orbital module at 5:42 a.m. while the spacecraft was flying west of South America, 262 miles above the Pacific Ocean. This is the third mission with an entirely private crew to arrive at the orbiting laboratory.

Four Axiom Mission 3 astronauts entered the space station to meet with the Expedition 70 crew members. Image source: NASATV

The Axiom space station crew will join the Expedition 70 crew on board the space station, including NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen ), JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Furukawa Satoshi, and Russian Space Agency astronauts Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.

Next, the space station crew will hold a welcome ceremony for the International Space Station.

Axiom Space's astronauts are expected to leave the space station on February 3 and return to Earth, landing at a landing site off the coast of Florida.