California [US], July 16: A private astronaut crew returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday. The Axiom Mission 4 landed in the sea near the Californian coast and was picked up by a recovery ship.
The four travellers on board the Dragon capsule from Elon Musk's company SpaceX had spent two weeks in space.
An astronaut from India's ISRO space agency was on board for the first time. The flight was made possible by co-operation between NASA and ISRO, after an agreement between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In addition to the Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, the crew also included the Pole Sławosz Uznaski-Winiewski, the Hungarian Tibor Kapu and the former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson.
The mission brought astronauts from Poland and Hungary to the space station for an extended stay for the first time.
A video on X showed Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk watching the landing on television. "Welcome back," he said. "Thank God, everything went well."
On its return, the Dragon capsule brought around 260 kilograms of cargo to Earth, including NASA equipment and scientific data from over 60 experiments.
The mission is part of NASA's long-term strategy to open up low-Earth orbit more to commercial space travel.
In future, private providers are to increasingly take over transport and research services, while the US space agency concentrates on missions to the moon and later to Mars.
According to media reports, a flight with Axiom costs around €70 million ($81.4 million) per passenger.
In 2022, the company organized the first private mission to the ISS, followed by others in 2023 and 2024.
Source: Qatar Tribune
