Zürcher Nachrichten - Crew of first private flight to ISS return to Earth

EUR -
AED 4.081604
AFN 79.563642
ALL 99.812145
AMD 434.84896
ANG 1.989345
AOA 1013.447867
ARS 1193.383186
AUD 1.744564
AWG 2.003004
AZN 1.890005
BAM 1.966501
BBD 2.243423
BDT 135.004588
BGN 1.958869
BHD 0.418844
BIF 3301.942553
BMD 1.111237
BND 1.484658
BOB 7.677951
BRL 6.22326
BSD 1.111106
BTN 94.848677
BWP 15.3769
BYN 3.636101
BYR 21780.242308
BZD 2.231863
CAD 1.559882
CDF 3190.361307
CHF 0.950999
CLF 0.027527
CLP 1056.44229
CNY 8.07658
CNH 8.091666
COP 4604.554359
CRC 559.82541
CUC 1.111237
CUP 29.447777
CVE 110.871305
CZK 25.010637
DJF 197.875381
DKK 7.461944
DOP 70.170787
DZD 147.60784
EGP 56.210775
ERN 16.668553
ETB 146.27175
FJD 2.586792
FKP 0.85645
GBP 0.844662
GEL 3.066512
GGP 0.85645
GHS 17.222949
GIP 0.85645
GMD 80.206966
GNF 9613.066565
GTQ 8.555771
GYD 233.136742
HKD 8.641418
HNL 28.44534
HRK 7.536075
HTG 144.440847
HUF 408.670727
IDR 18576.176581
ILS 4.116005
IMP 0.85645
INR 94.958525
IQD 1453.289909
IRR 46783.26768
ISK 147.134182
JEP 0.85645
JMD 173.141401
JOD 0.787902
JPY 161.59107
KES 143.60963
KGS 96.332741
KHR 4444.695067
KMF 503.003747
KPW 1000.173219
KRW 1624.972291
KWD 0.342621
KYD 0.924089
KZT 558.781461
LAK 24078.816851
LBP 99526.686795
LKR 327.274549
LRD 222.238875
LSL 20.849966
LTL 3.281194
LVL 0.672176
LYD 5.367498
MAD 10.655682
MDL 19.85994
MGA 5126.081933
MKD 63.207503
MMK 2332.990606
MNT 3882.0596
MOP 8.908036
MRU 44.233281
MUR 50.85395
MVR 17.159667
MWK 1926.928267
MXN 22.139739
MYR 4.949173
MZN 70.995904
NAD 20.849966
NGN 1705.914714
NIO 40.889655
NOK 11.429291
NPR 152.004858
NZD 1.903422
OMR 0.427798
PAB 1.111237
PEN 4.082878
PGK 4.540479
PHP 63.438506
PKR 311.277822
PLN 4.262878
PYG 8858.497684
QAR 4.045257
RON 5.089707
RSD 119.812316
RUB 93.613392
RWF 1578.542655
SAR 4.167114
SBD 9.44502
SCR 16.073363
SDG 666.707488
SEK 10.767296
SGD 1.4913
SHP 0.873258
SLE 25.369982
SLL 23302.082381
SOS 633.960021
SRD 40.69424
STD 23000.359268
SVC 9.723545
SYP 14449.081086
SZL 20.849966
THB 37.903158
TJS 12.119875
TMT 3.886702
TND 3.437646
TOP 2.676533
TRY 42.175555
TTD 7.514151
TWD 36.807417
TZS 2940.966644
UAH 45.92151
UGX 4051.406185
USD 1.111237
UYU 46.943979
UZS 14380.794818
VES 77.573106
VND 28524.127159
VUV 137.314864
WST 3.147948
XAF 670.671663
XAG 0.034304
XAU 0.000356
XCD 3.008443
XDR 0.836646
XOF 670.671663
XPF 119.331742
YER 273.259356
ZAR 20.840027
ZMK 10002.46437
ZMW 31.152221
ZWL 357.817813
  • RBGPF

    -0.2800

    67.72

    -0.41%

  • RIO

    -0.9600

    58.94

    -1.63%

  • NGG

    3.5110

    69.291

    +5.07%

  • CMSC

    -0.1800

    22.32

    -0.81%

  • RELX

    0.5900

    51.57

    +1.14%

  • AZN

    2.4500

    74.67

    +3.28%

  • BTI

    1.5650

    41.815

    +3.74%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    9.8

    +0.2%

  • SCS

    -0.6450

    10.815

    -5.96%

  • BP

    -2.4900

    31.32

    -7.95%

  • VOD

    0.2490

    9.369

    +2.66%

  • BCC

    -6.0150

    96.055

    -6.26%

  • CMSD

    -0.1980

    22.632

    -0.87%

  • JRI

    -0.2000

    12.84

    -1.56%

  • BCE

    0.3260

    22.146

    +1.47%

  • GSK

    1.1250

    38.765

    +2.9%

Crew of first private flight to ISS return to Earth
Crew of first private flight to ISS return to Earth / Photo: Handout - NASA TV/AFP

Crew of first private flight to ISS return to Earth

Three businessmen and a former NASA astronaut splashed down Monday off the Florida coast after spending two weeks aboard the International Space Station in a landmark mission for the commercial sector.

Text size:

After a dizzying descent, a SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the Axiom-1 gently floated down to the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville at 1:06 pm (1706 GMT) on four huge parachutes.

"Dragon Endeavor has returned home with the Axiom-1 Crew," said an announcer, as a recovery vessel made its way to the capsule.

The spaceship was affectionately referred to as a "toasted marshmallow" because of the scorch marks on its heat shield from re-entering the atmosphere at 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 km/h).

It marks the official end of the first fully-private mission to the orbiting outpost -- and a turning point in US space agency NASA's goal to commercialize the region of space called low Earth orbit.

"Welcome home, Axiom-1!" tweeted NASA chief Bill Nelson. "#Ax1 and all of the progress we've seen in the commercial space sector wouldn't be possible without NASA's collaboration with private industry."

Axiom Space paid SpaceX for transport services and NASA for use of the ISS, while charging the three tycoons a reported $55 million each for the privilege.

American real estate mogul Larry Connor, Canadian financier Mark Pathy and Israeli impact investor Eytan Stibbe and veteran Spanish-American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria had blasted off on April 8.

They were originally scheduled to spend only eight days on the space station but bad weather forced repeated delays. In total, the crew spent 17 days in orbit, 15 of those on the ISS.

- Research, not tourism -

Axiom had been keen to stress its mission shouldn't be considered tourism, unlike the recent, attention-grabbing suborbital flights carried out by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.

On board the ISS, which orbits 250 miles (400 kilometers) above sea level, the quartet carried out research projects, including an MIT technology demonstration of smart tiles that form a robotic swarm and self-assemble into space architecture.

Another experiment involved using cancer stem cells to grow mini tumors, then leveraging the accelerated aging environment of microgravity to identify early changes in those tumors, to help improve screening methods.

Pathy spent considerable time in the station's famous observation cupola, photographing Earth.

NASA has already given the green light, in principle, to a second mission: Ax-2.

The departure of the Ax-1 crew left seven people on the ISS: three Americans, a German and three Russians.

Monday's sea landing of a manned SpaceX Dragon capsule was the fifth to date.

SpaceX, owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, is now regularly ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the space station.

Last year, Musk's company launched another entirely private mission, which orbited Earth for three days without linking up with the ISS.

Axiom sees the voyages as the first steps of a grander goal: to build its own private space station. The first module is due to launch in 2024.

The plan is for the station to initially be attached to the ISS, before eventually flying autonomously when the latter retires and is deorbited sometime after 2030.

O.Pereira--NZN