Four astronauts returned to Earth after private mission “Axiom”

First modification: 02/11/2024 – 03:47Latest modification: 02/11/2024 – 03:45

2 minutes.

The mission, called Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), was the company’s first launch in which three paid seats were purchased by national agencies rather than wealthy individuals.

The livestream showed a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule called Freedom parachuting into the Atlantic Ocean, where it was intercepted and brought aboard a rescue ship.

“I am very proud of my Ax-3 crewmates who helped their agencies achieve all of their science goals, technology demonstrations and outreach efforts,” said Axiom Chief Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, a Spanish-American citizen and former former NASA Astronaut at a farewell ceremony before returning to Earth.

The mission was originally scheduled to last two weeks, but the return trip was delayed several days due to bad weather, forcing a final 18-day stay on the ISS.

Traveling with Lopez-Alegria was pilot and Turkish Air Force Colonel Alper Gezeravci; Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villaday, who has already flown to the edge of space on a Virgin Galactic spaceplane; and Swede Markus Wandt, who also represented the European Space Agency.

Countries with space programs are increasingly turning to the private sector to realize their space ambitions. Turkey, which had an astronaut on the mission for the first time, celebrated the mission as a sign of its growing importance on the world stage.

The crew conducted 30 experiments, increasing knowledge about the effects of microgravity on the human body and the development of industrial processes, among other things.

Axiom Space was founded in 2016 by Michael Suffredini, former director of NASA’s ISS program, and entrepreneur Cam Ghaffarian.

He is also building a commercial space station, which he intends to first dock with the ISS and then at some point detach and enter an independent orbit before the latter leaves.

The exact cost of the Ax-3 has not been disclosed, but in 2018, when the company first announced the program, which would lease SpaceX equipment and pay NASA for services, it set the price at $55 million per seat.

© 2024 AFP