The first visitors at the International Space Station (ISS) from India, Poland and Hungary returned to Earth on Monday aboard a SpaceX vehicle as their private spaceflight ended with a Pacific splashdown. This was the first time astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary went to space in more than 40 years’ time.
Their SpaceX capsule that undocked from the ISS Monday touched down off the Southern California coast around 24 hours later. The crew of four — US astronaut Peggy Whitson from Axiom, who served as commander, India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu — launched nearly in June on an Axiom Space flight.
The last time India, Hungary, and Poland sent astronauts to space was during the late 1970s and 1980s. They all launched with the Soviets.
This time, according to reports, the three countries paid over $65 million each to be part of the mission.
