Thus: 04/25/2022 at 7:34 pm
After more than two weeks aboard the International Space Station (ISS), four participants from the first privately held space mission are back. The capsule landed off the coast of Florida – later as planned due to bad weather.
A private group of visitors has returned to Earth from the International Space Station. Four astronauts landed in a SpaceX capsule off the Florida coast. Bad weather had repeatedly delayed the return of the three entrepreneurs and the former NASA astronaut.
The group was launched on April 8 from Cape Canaveral Spaceport in the US state of Florida with a “Crew Dragon” space capsule. They were originally supposed to spend only eight days there. However, bad weather on Earth forced them to delay their return time and again.
In an infrared video screenshot, recovery workers approach the Dragon spacecraft after it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida, USA.
Image: AP
privately held flight
The trip to the ISS was organized by the private space company Axiom Space in collaboration with the US space agency NASA and SpaceX, a company owned by billionaire Elon Musk. The three paid crew members of Mission AX-1 are American real estate investor Larry Connor, Canadian businessman Mark Pethe, and Israeli entrepreneur and former fighter pilot Eyton Stibbe.
According to media reports, both paid $55 million (€50 million) for the flight. The commander is former US-Spanish astronaut Michael López-Alegria. This is the first fully private crew.
Michael Lopez-Alegria, Mark Pethe, Larry Connor and Eyton Stibbe (from left) before they leave…
Image: AFP
… and on the International Space Station, in the middle row.
Image: DPA
series of experiments
On the ISS, the men conducted a number of experiments in collaboration with research centers on Earth. According to the US space agency NASA, it was about heart health and cognitive performance in weightlessness, among other things. That’s why they reject the term “space tourist” for themselves.
After the departure of the four visitors, the regular crew consisting of German astronauts returned to the ISS. lives on Matthew Maurer as well as three Russian and American allies.
ISS. but the first private people
In the past, private individuals repeatedly visited the ISS. Just last year, along with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, a Russian film crew also flew to film the space station.
However, they used a Soyuz rocket of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
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