New York (CNN) The astronauts on the International Space Station could have some visitors next year.

SpaceX announced it has signed a deal with startup Axiom Space, which plans to take tourists, private researchers, astronauts from foreign countries and other individuals outside of NASA's astronaut corps to the ISS. The flight will accommodate three passengers on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft — a fully-autonomous, gumdrop-shaped capsule that measures about 13-feet across — alongside a trained flight commander.

Axiom's first mission could launch as soon as the second half of 2021, according to a joint press release.

Crew Dragon will link up with the space station and allow the passengers to spend at least eight days there before returning to Earth.

"This will be just the first of many missions to ISS to be completely crewed and managed by Axiom Space -— a first for a commercial entity," said Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini, who served as manager of NASA's International Space Station program from 2005 to 2015, in a statement. "Procuring the transportation marks significant progress toward that goal."