“Thank you again for all the support through this incredible adventure we are having,” Axiom-1 mission commander Michael López-Alegría radio-controlled NASA mission in Houston after liftoff. /2022).
The return of the Axiom-1 (Ax-1) crew from the International Space Station (ISS) was delayed several times. The Ax-1 crew was originally scheduled to take off on Tuesday morning (April 19) and arrive on Earth on Wednesday morning (April 20).
Read also; Axiom-1 Crew’s Return to Earth Delayed Due to Bad Weather
However, the predicted bad weather in the splashdown (landing) zone took things back by around 12 hours. And these bad conditions continued, causing additional delays until Endeavor was finally able to continue its journey to Earth today.
“(This trip) was even longer and more interesting than we thought. We really appreciate your professionalism, and with that we will sign it,” continued Michael López-Alegría.
The mission was organized by the Houston company Axiom Space and led by López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut who now serves as Axiom’s vice president of business development. The other three passengers were paying customers, Larry Connor from America, Mark Pathy from Canada and Eytan Stibbe from Israel, who each paid about $55 million.
Stibbe is the second Israelite to ever reach outer space. The first, Ilan Ramon, died with his six crew members in the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003. Stibbe and Ramon were friends.
Read also; SpaceX Successfully Flys 4 Civilian Astronauts into Space
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