Axiom Space flight director to head four-person private mission to ISS

Houston-based Axiom Space has selected four crew members for its Axiom Mission 2, the second privately-funded mission to the International Space Station.

Peggy Whitson, the company’s director of human spaceflight, will lead the mission, joined by former aviator and entrepreneur John Shoffner as pilot. Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will serve as mission specialists — the two are members of Saudi Arabia’s inaugural astronaut program.

Whitson and Shoffner…