ORLANDO, Fla. — The International Space Station turned into a bit of an extended stay hotel for the four Axiom Space private astronauts who finally were able to climb back on board a SpaceX Dragon and make their way safely back to Earth.
The quartet made up of three men who paid $55 million each as well as a former astronaut who is now an Axiom employee flew up to the ISS for what was originally supposed to be a 10-day mission back on April 8. They boarded the spacecraft more than two weeks later on Sunday night and made a textbook landing in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast near Jacksonville on Monday.
Undocking from the ISS took place at 9:10 p.m. Eastern time 262 miles above the planet. The crew of AX-1 then spent a 16-hour trip home at 1:06 p.m.
