The SpaceX capsule with NASA veteran Peggy Whitson and astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary successfully returned to Earth after 18 days on the International Space Station. The mission was historic: for three countries, it was their first flight to the ISS, and for 65-year-old Whitson, it was her fifth trip into space, UNN reports with reference to Reuters.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with a four-person crew parachuted into the sea off the coast of Southern California around 2:30 AM Pacific Time (09:30 GMT) after a fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, completing a 22-hour descent from orbit.
As indicated, crew members from India, Poland, and Hungary "returned from their countries' first missions to the ISS."
The flight was organized by the Texas startup Axiom Space in cooperation with SpaceX, Elon Musk's private rocket company. The return was broadcast live via a joint SpaceX-Axiom webcast.
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The Axiom-4 crew was led by 65-year-old Whitson, who retired from NASA in 2018 after becoming the first female astronaut of the US space agency and the first woman to ever command an expedition to the ISS. She spent 695 days in space during three previous NASA missions. Whitson is now the Director of Human Spaceflight at Axiom.
Upon landing, she radioed flight control that the crew was "happy to be back." A rescue vessel was immediately dispatched to secure the capsule and lift it from the ocean onto the ship's deck. Crew members were to be extracted from the capsule one by one for medical examination. The vessel was then to transport them ashore within hours.
Astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary landed with her — for their countries, this was the first government mission to the station in over 40 years. The Axiom-4 crew delivered scientific samples from over 60 experiments. The mission was SpaceX's 18th crewed flight and another step for Axiom towards creating its own space station, which is to replace the ISS after 2030.