The first private crew from the ISS space station to Earth

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying a group of four from Houston-based startup Axiom Space has left Space Station ISS at 21:10 on April 24, EDT time (8:10 on April 25, Vietnam time). Astronauts will ride the spacecraft for 16 hours to travel from the space station in orbit 420km to return to Earth, according to NASA’s webcast.

It is expected that the spaceship Endeavor will land in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida at about 13:00 pm EDT (April 26, Vietnam time).

The four civilian astronauts, including former cosmonaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who holds dual US-Spanish citizenship, were originally scheduled to spend only eight days on the space station. However, bad weather on Earth caused their return trip to be repeatedly delayed.

Three people have spent tens of millions of dollars each to have the opportunity to join the mission, including Larry Connor – American businessman who heads a real estate company – Canadian businessman Mark Pathy and former fighter pilot and businessman. Israeli man Eytan Stibbe. The team took off from Florida on April 8 and arrived at the ISS a day later.

At the ISS space station, the civilian crew conducted a series of experiments in collaboration with research centers on Earth, including on cardiovascular health and cognitive performance in low-gravity conditions. according to the NASA blog. In particular, businessman Pathy spends considerable time in the famous observation dome of the ISS station to take pictures of the Earth.

The mission, dubbed Ax-1, is a reference to Axiom Space, the space travel company that pays SpaceX to provide two-way travel and to NASA to use the facility in orbit.

In principle, NASA has given the green light to a second mission: Ax-2. The return of the Ax-1 crew to Earth means that there are 7 people left on the ISS: 3 Americans, 1 German and 3 Russians.

Axiom, NASA, and SpaceX see the Ax-1 mission as a landmark in the expansion of privately funded commercial space-based space that constitutes the “low-Earth orbit economy” or “economy for short” LEO economy”.

The Ax-1 marks the sixth human space flight performed by SpaceX in nearly two years, after four missions to bring NASA astronauts to the ISS, along with the September Inspiration 4 flight bringing a full crew. first civilian to orbit Earth but not to the space station.

SpaceX has signed a contract to carry out three more Axiom astronaut missions to the ISS within the next 2 years. Prices for these trips are currently still high.

According to Mo Islam, head of research at investment firm Republic Capital – which has stakes in both Axiom and SpaceX – Axiom charges clients between $50 million and $60 million each.

In 2020, Axiom has also been NASA elect to build a new commercial addition to the space station that has been in operation for more than two decades.