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.