A former fighter pilot and Turkish Airlines captain became the first person from his country to fly into space.
On Friday, On February 9, astronauts from Turkey, Italy and Sweden returned to Earth, completing a private 18-day mission on the International Space Station.
ABC News reports this.
The trio was accompanied by retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who now works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that organized the charter flight. The crew returned in a SpaceX capsule, which successfully parachuted into the Atlantic off the coast of Florida.
Turkey celebrated the successful launch of a rocket carrying Colonel Alper Gezeravi from Cape Canaveral last month. The former fighter pilot and captain of Turkish Airlines became the first person from his country to fly into space.
Along with him, Italian Air Force Colonel Walter Villaday, who had previously flown on board, made the space journey Virgin Galactic spacecraft, and Swede Markus Wandt, a former fighter pilot selected by the European Space Agency as a reserve astronaut in 2022.
Turkey, Italy and Sweden financed the mission, paying about $55 million each. This was Axiom's third private mission to the space station, with a fourth planned later this year.
The mission was originally planned to last two weeks, but the return to Earth was delayed several days due to weather conditions.
The crew conducted 30 experiments aboard the ISS, specifically to better understand the effects of microgravity on the human body. The astronauts also communicated with schoolchildren and officials of their countries.
What is known about Axiom Space
Axiom Space was founded in 2016 by Michael Suffredini, former NASA ISS program manager, and entrepreneur Kam Ghaffarian. In addition to organizing private missions to the ISS, the company is developing suits for future NASA lunar missions.
Axiom Space also plans to build the first commercial space station, which will initially be attached to the ISS.
Recall that recently the first Ukrainian woman, now living in the United States of America, made a commercial flight into space.
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