Crew Dragon carrying space tourists undocks from space station
Date
4/25/2022 12:05:49 AM
(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
The Crew Dragon spacecraft of the US-based SpaceX company, which
is carrying space tourists, on Sunday undocked from the
International Space Station and headed for the Earth, according to
a broadcast on the NASA website, Trend reports citing TASS .
The automatic undocking took place at 21:10 of US eastern time
(04:10 Moscow time). The crew relocated to Crew Dragon two hours
before. The spacecraft is expected to splash down off Florida about
13:00 local time (20:00 Moscow time) on Monday.
Originally, the spacecraft was to depart from the station on
April 19 and splash down in the Atlantic the following day. But due
to inclement weather off Florida, which could have hobbled the
pickup of the crew, the undocking was pushed back a few times. As a
result, the mission, which was arranged by Axiom Space, spent two
weeks onboard the ISS instead of the originally planned eight days.
It was the first fully commercial trip to the orbital outpost.
Crew Dragon, with businessmen Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and
Mark Pathy, and former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who
was assigned to look after the other crew members, blasted off from
the Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida on April 8 and docked
with the ISS on April 9. The company doesn't disclose how much the
tourists paid for this trip. According to the Space News portal,
each paid about $55 million. Lopez-Alegria flew at the expense of
Axiom Space, where he is vice president.
Based in Houston, Texas, Axiom Space concluded a contract in
March 2020 with SpaceX for four missions to deliver to the ISS
those who want to go into orbit. The company also agreed with NASA
that its tourists will be provided with access to the American
section of the station. At the same time, Axiom Space emphasizes
that during its missions to the ISS, crew members will not only
admire the views of the Earth. The first four of them were tasked
with completing 25 research and educational projects such as the
study of the effects of space flights on cells and the heart.
Axiom Space has scheduled a second mission to the ISS for the
first quarter of 2023. The three tourists will be looked after by
former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who has made three flights to
the station. She holds the NASA record for cumulative orbital time
of 665 days.
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