Private Spaceflight Ends With A Pacific Splashdown For Astronauts From India, Poland And Hungary

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A private spaceflight featuring nan first astronauts successful much than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary came to a adjacent Tuesday pinch a Pacific splashdown.

Their SpaceX capsule undocked from nan I nternational Space Station connected Monday and parachuted into nan water disconnected nan Southern California coast, little than 24 hours later.

The unit of 4 launched astir 3 weeks agone connected a formation chartered by nan Houston institution Axiom Space.

Axiom’s Peggy Whitson, nan astir knowledgeable U.S. astronaut, served arsenic commander. Joining her were India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu, whose countries paid much than $65 cardinal apiece for nan mission.

“Thanks for nan awesome thrust and safe trip,” Whitson radioed moments aft splashdown. Her grounds now stands astatine 695 days successful abstraction complete 5 missions, longer than immoderate different American aliases woman.

The visiting astronauts conducted dozens of experiments successful orbit while celebrating their heritage. The past clip India, Poland and Hungary put anyone successful abstraction was during nan precocious 1970s and 1980s, launching pinch nan Soviets. They waved and smiled arsenic they emerged from nan capsule, 1 by one, into nan early greeting darkness.

It was Axiom’s 4th ngo to nan orbiting outpost since 2022, portion of NASA’s ongoing effort to unfastened up abstraction to much businesses and people. The institution is 1 of respective processing their ain abstraction stations to switch nan existent one. NASA plans to wantonness nan outpost successful 2030, aft much than 30 years of operation.