All-private SpaceX astronaut mission AX-1 on its way home after a week of delays
Source: CNN Business
All-private SpaceX astronaut mission on its way home after a week of delays
By Jackie Wattles, CNN Business
Updated 0112 GMT (0912 HKT) April 25, 2022
New York (CNN Business) — The first all-private mission to the International Space Station began its return trip Sunday evening after a string of delays dragged the mission out for a week longer than expected because of weather and other inopportune circumstances.
The mission, called AX-1, was brokered by the Houston, Texas-based startup Axiom Space, which books rocket rides, provides all the necessary training, and coordinates flights to the ISS for anyone who can afford it.
The four crew members — Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut-turned-Axiom employee who is commanding the mission; Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe; Canadian investor Mark Pathy; and Ohio-based real estate magnate Larry Connor — left the space station aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on Sunday at 9:10 pm EST. But as had happened so often already with this mission, there was one more delay, as the capsule departed 15 minutes past the original planned departure time of 8:55 pm EST, as the capsule occupants dealt with minor communications issues.
They will spend about one day free flying through orbit before plummeting back into the atmosphere and parachuting to a splashdown landing off the coast of Florida around 1 pm ET Monday.
-snip-
Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/24/tech/spacex-ax-1-undocking-sunday-scn/index.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
