One of the three paying customers joining Whitson was John Shoffner, an American who made his fortune in the international telecom business and founded the hardware company Dura-Line Corp. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying Axiom Mission 2's four-person crew splashed down off the coast of Panama City, Florida, at 11:04 p.m. “I’m really excited about returning to space, but even more excited about welcoming three new astronauts,” Whitson said in a May 21 statement from the Crew Dragon spacecraft after launch. The AX-2 mission is one in a lineup of commercial missions designed to spur private sector participation in spaceflight - particularly in low-Earth orbit, where the International Space Station orbits.įormer NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, 63, led the AX-2 crew. Whitson, now an Axiom Space employee, also became the first woman to command a private spaceflight. This mission was also a milestone in the history of spaceflight as stem cell researcher Rayyanah Barnawi became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to travel to space. AX-2 was put together by the Houston-based company Axiom Space and marked the second all-private mission to the orbiting outpost, meaning solely commercial companies, rather than a government agency, have been leading the mission. This mission, dubbed Axiom Mission 2, or AX-2, launched from Florida on May 21. After a fiery reentry, the Crew Dragon and passengers made a safe splashdown off the coast of Panama City, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico at 11:04 p.m.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft departed the space station Tuesday morning and the crew spent nearly 12 hours in orbit as the capsule maneuvered back toward Earth. A SpaceX capsule carrying a decorated former NASA astronaut and three paying customers returned home from the International Space Station Tuesday, concluding a historic weeklong mission for the crew.
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