The "space tour group" Ax-1 four space tourists are about to leave the International Space Station and return to Earth.
On April 15, local time, NASA announced that four "private" astronauts are expected to leave the International Space Station at 10:35 ET on April 19 and start their return journey, splashing off the Florida coast at 7:19 a.m. on April 20.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:17 ET on April 8 to launch Ax-1, the first all-private manned space mission to the International Space Station, for Axiom Space, a start-up commercial space enterprise in the United States. Four astronauts boarded the International Space Station on April 9.
This means that this "space tour group" has 2 days more than the original 10-day trip, and will stay in space for a total of 12 days, of which 10 days are on the International Space Station and 2 days are round-trip by spacecraft.
The four members of the Space Tour Group Ax-1 include former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, American entrepreneur Larry Connor, Canadian investor Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe.
Michael, who has traveled to space four times, left NASA in 2012 and is currently vice president of Axiom Space, serving as mission commander on the Ax-1 mission, Connor in his 70s as pilot, Anderson Passy, a Canadian, and Stipby, an Israeli, as mission experts.
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on the Ax-1 mission docks with the International Space Station
They are involved in educational outreach and innovative research experiments on the International Space Station. Michael and Larry Connor took turns scanning each other's hearts with ultrasound devices to conduct cardioprotective studies. Ethan Stibby explored genetic identification, and Mark Passy continued his Earth photography session.
11 people aboard the International Space Station
NASA professional astronaut Tom Marshburn on the space station scanned Mark Parsy's eyes with medical imaging equipment to understand how weightlessness affected astronauts' vision. NASA astronaut Raja Chari loaded the cargo into the Dragon spacecraft and inspected the spacecraft's hatch. The SpaceX Manned Dragon spacecraft will return to Earth with more than 90 kilograms of scientific experiments, hardware and other materials.