SpaceX, Axiom fully-private spaceflight returns to Earth after journey to ISS | FULL

Courtesy: Axiom Space

The Axiom Ax-1, the first fully commercial spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) returned to Earth on Monday with the first all-private astronaut team to ever fly to the orbiting outpost. The craft splashed down in the ocean off the Florida coast.

Axiom’s four-man team lifted from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida a few weeks ago, riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket furnished and flown by Elon Musk’s commercial space launch venture SpaceX.

The quartet is led by retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. He was joined by three paying customers: Larry Connor, a real estate and technology entrepreneur and aerobatics aviator from Ohio, who has been designated mission pilot. Also along for the ride were investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy.

The launch is being hailed by NASA, Axiom Space - the company behind the launch - and other industry players as a turning point in the latest expansion of commercial space ventures collectively referred to by insiders as the low-Earth orbit economy.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/8743129/spacex-axiom-first-fully-commercial-launch/

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