Former astronaut and paying customers set to launch on SpaceX's Ax-2 mission.

SpaceX is set to launch four passengers, including three paying customers, to the International Space Station for a weeklong stay. The mission, called AX-2, is the second all-private mission to the orbiting outpost and will be led by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will become the first woman to command a private spaceflight. The paying customers include a stem cell researcher from Saudi Arabia, who will become the first woman from the country to travel to space, and a telecom businessman from the US. Axiom Space, the Houston-based company behind the mission, hopes to make private spaceflight routine and is pursuing government-sponsored astronauts as well.