Best three-day «weekend» ever? That may be the question SpaceX’s four civilian astronauts are putting to themselves after successfully returning to Earth on Saturday. …
Best three-day «weekend» ever? That may be the question SpaceX’s four civilian astronauts are putting to themselves after successfully returning to Earth on Saturday. The crew of the historic Inspiration4 mission splashed down off the Florida coast at about 7 p.m. local time, after having orbited the globe many times since Thursday. The astronauts safely exited the spacecraft about an hour after splashdown, following a recovery at sea. «That was a heck of a ride for us,» mission commander Jared Isaacman tweeted after splashdown. «Congratulations @Inspiration4x!!!» SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, also via Twitter. It was the first time a crew composed of private citizens had been launched into orbit, without any professional astronauts aboard. The mission took the crew members much farther out than either Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson or Blue Origin’s (and Amazon’s) Jeff Bezos traveled on their recent jaunts above the planet.
