First private astronauts head back home from International Space Station
After17days of stay at the International Space Station, 4 private astronauts who paid $=55= million per seat are returning to earth today at 10:30 pm IST
Updated Apr 25, 2022 | 03:17 AM IST
The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft was undocked from the space-facing port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 6:40 am IST today. This completed the 17-day stay of the first private astronaut mission to the ISS. The mission named Axiom Mission 1 (AX-1) comprised a crew of 4 astronauts, Michael López from Alegria, a former NASA astronaut commanding the mission. Alongside him are entrepreneurs Larry Connor and Mark Pathy and Israeli investor and philanthropist Eytan Stibbe.
It is reported that Conner, Pathy, and Stibbe paid $55million per seat to be on the first private mission to the ISS. The Dragon Spacecraft’s crew is slowly maneuvering away from the orbital laboratory into an orbital track that will return the astronaut crew and its cargo safely to Earth, targeting a splashdown off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, targeted for 10:36 pm IST on Monday, April 25.
Ax-1 crew conducted work for more than 25 research projects with partners across the globe, including the Mayo Clinic, Montreal Children’s Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, and the Ramon Foundation. The astronauts also assisted in delivering Axiom-sponsored research and manufacturing investigations on self-assembling technology for future space habitats, devices to purify the air on space stations, and more.
The AX-1 mission will be returning to Earth with 90 kilograms of cargo, which includes science and supplies, NASA experiments, and hardware from the flying laboratory. The mission was earlier scheduled to undock after 10 days of stay, but after unfavorable weather at the landing the site off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida the mission was extended for 7 days.
The AX-1 mission is the first commercial astronaut team and marks the 6th human spaceflight from SpaceX in the last two years. Axiom Space will now work on the second private mission to the flying laboratory and has contracted SpaceX for three more missions to the ISS over the next 2 years.
https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/first-private-astronauts-head-back-home-from-international-space-station-article-91067667