Civilian SpaceX mission returns safely to Earth
While Elon Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter appears to be overshadowing his current situation, SpaceX has just performed an unprecedented milestone in the history of space tourism.
We talked about the successful takeoff and placement into the orbit of the first spaceflight with a completely private crew bound for the International Space Station (ISS), organized by SpaceX and Axiom Space, two weeks ago, and now, seventeen days later, the crew has finally returned safely to the mainland.
The SpaceX AX-1 Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four astronauts fell into the Atlantic Ocean yesterday, off the coast of Florida, according to the firm.
While the mission ended up lasting nearly twice as long as expected, the return trip and recovery of the crew and capsule went perfectly.
Aside from the pleasure trip, the crew, which included the commander and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegra, as well as the entrepreneurs' Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe, and Mark Pathy, carried out some experiments while on the Space Station International, bringing back more than 200 pounds of scientific supplies and materials, including some samples for NASA.
The company that operated the AX-1 mission, Axiom Space, plans to launch more private flights to the ISS in the future years. And it is intended to build the first commercial module on the ISS, as well as a connected module containing a movie studio and a sports stadium.
Although the Axiom Station will only be joined to the station until 2028, after which it will operate autonomously, because NASA intends to remove the ISS from orbit in January 2031 and direct it to a capture trajectory over the Pacific Ocean.
Recall, according to the official statement, Elon Musk will acquire Twitter at a price of 54.20 dollars per share, for a total of around 44 billion dollars, a sum that is 38 percent higher than the price of the shares at the close of its listing on April 1, the day before Musk revealed his 9 percent stake.
Once the procedure is completed, Twitter will no longer be a public business and will become Elon Musk’s property. As a result, the firm will no longer be required to file filings with the SEC, an entity with which Musk has a strained relationship.
