Three wealthy businessmen returned from the International Space Station with their escort astronauts on Monday, completing an expensive trip that marked NASA’s debut as host of the B&B.
Flying back into a SpaceX capsule, they exploded in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida to complete a 17-day $ 55 million tour.
The trip was supposed to last a little over a week, but bad weather kept visitors in orbit for almost twice as long as expected.
“Welcome back to planet Earth,” SpaceX’s Southern California mission radio said. “We hope you enjoyed the extra few days in space.”
“An amazing mission,” said real estate mogul Larry Connor.
Before leaving the space station on Sunday night, the group thanked its seven hosts, including three NASA astronauts, whose own mission is coming to an end.
This was the first time NASA opened its space hatches to tourists after abandoning a practice perfected by Russia over the decades. Last fall, a Russian film crew flew in, followed by a Japanese fashion mogul and his assistant. In any case, an active astronaut traveled with them.
The latest guests were accompanied by a former NASA astronaut who now works for Axiom Space, the Houston-based flight company, making it his first fully private trip to the space station.
Axiom handled travel logistics for its three paying customers: Connor of Dayton, Ohio; Canadian Private Capital Executive Director Mark Patty; and Israeli investor Eitan Stibe. They were accompanied by Michael Lopez-Allegria, Axiom’s vice president, who flew in space four times while a NASA astronaut.
While in space, visitors experimented and peered into Earth.
“It opened my eyes in so many ways,” Patty said, “that I think it’s going to have such a lasting impact on my life.”
The experience was especially personal for Stibbe. He served as a fighter pilot under Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut to die aboard the Colombia space shuttle in 2003. Stib flew copies of the surviving pages of Ramon’s space diary, as well as art and music. created by Ramon’s children.
Axiom’s second flight is scheduled for next spring, as the company expects to have its own space station by 2030.
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