Axiom Space astronauts splashdown after historic commercial ISS mission with NASA; WATCH

After staying in space for 16 days, Axiom Space’s commercial crew splashed down in the Atlantic ocean on April 25. Consisting of four astronauts- the crew flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on April 9 under the Axiom -1 (Ax-1) mission, which was Axiom Space’s collaboration with NASA and SpaceX. The mission ended up a success as the astronauts conducted the experiments they carried with them and safely arrived on Earth inside the Dragon capsule. 

SpaceX, which was the launch provider for the mission, shared multiple videos of the splashdown including one that offered a glimpse of parachute deployment from inside the Dragon capsule. The parachutes are an extremely important element required for landing as they significantly reduced the descent velocity of the spacecraft and ensure a relatively easy landing both on the ground and on water. 

The crew of Ax-1

The crew of the Ax-1 mission was commanded by Michael Lopez-Alegria, who is a former NASA astronaut and also the Vice President of Axiom Space. He was accompanied by Larry Connor, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe, who are entrepreneurs and paid $55 million for their trip. The mission is being called 'historic' as many say that this mission has opened the gate for private space missions, thus promoting the idea of space tourism.

Lopez-Alegria, however, has reiterated in the past the Ax-1 is not a tour as it required real work for preparation and was not comfortable. He also argued that the astronauts would conduct certain experiments aboard the ISS that are meant for the betterment of humanity. Notably, this mission was initially planned to last ten days but astronauts had to stay aboard the space station a little longer due to delays in their departure over bad weather. 

Axiom moves on to Ax-2

Now that the Ax-1 mission has concluded, Axiom Space will now focus on its second spaceflight after NASA accepted the proposal in December 2021. According to NASA, the Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) is targeted to launch between fall 2022 and late spring 2023. Similar to its predecessor, the Ax-2 will last for over a week and astronauts will conduct new experiments in micro-gravity.