The first four SpaceX space tourists returned to Earth last night with a landing in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Florida. They spent three days in space, thus successfully completing the first orbital mission in history without professional astronauts on board.
In the videos released by the company, four large parachutes are seen slowing the descent of the Dragon capsule.
Space tourists had taken off from Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon 9 on Wednesday evening.
The mission, called Inspiration4, was aimed at marking a turning point by demonstrating that the cosmos is accessible even to crews who have not been selected and trained for years.
The four novices - billionaire Jared Isaacman, who chartered the mission, and three other Americans - spent three days in Earth orbit, traveling past the International Space Station (ISS), up to 590 km of altitude. Circling in orbit at around 28,000 km per hour, they have traveled around the world more than 15 times a day.
(Unioneonline / ss)
