Seventeen days after they left Earth, the primary totally non-public area crew has safely returned to terra firma. A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the 4 AX-1 astronauts splashed down within the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida at round 1:06 PM ET.
The capsule undocked from the ISS at 9:10PM ET on Sunday to start a 16-hour return journey. Axiom Space, NASA and SpaceX agreed to an adjusted return plan based mostly on the climate forecast on the touchdown web site. The mission finally lasted virtually twice so long as initially deliberate. Despite the delay, the return journey went easily.
The crew — commander and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría and businessmen Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy — conducted some experiments throughout their time on the International Space Station. They introduced again greater than 200 kilos of provides and scientific supplies, together with some samples for NASA.
Axiom Space, which operated the AX-1 mission, is anticipated to launch extra non-public flights to the ISS within the coming years. It may even construct the primary business module on the ISS in addition to a related module containing a movie studio and sports activities area. Axiom Station is anticipated to separate from the ISS in 2028. It will then function independently. NASA plans to deorbit the ISS in January 2031 and direct it to a seize trajectory over the Pacific Ocean.
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