A group of four individuals from a private company called Axiom landed safely off the coast of Florida’s Atlantic Ocean on Friday after a two-week journey to the International Space Station (ISS).

Axiom announced on their website that the crew successfully landed at approximately 8:30 a.m. EST on Friday, following their departure from the ISS on Wednesday with a Dragon spacecraft leased from SpaceX, a commercial space company.

The team consisted of Michael Lopez-Alegria, a retired NASA astronaut who was the mission’s leader; Walter Villadei, an Italian Air Force Colonel from Italy; Alper Gezeravcı, a Mission Specialist from Turkey; and Marcus Wandt, an astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA) from Sweden.

This was Axiom’s third manned journey to the International Space Station and the initial one with a crew entirely from Europe. On this expedition, Gezeravcı became the first Turkish person to venture into space, while Wandt became the first astronaut from the European Space Agency to participate in a commercial mission.

During their 18-day stay on the orbiting laboratory, the Axiom crew carried out over 30 experiments and participated in over 50 “outreach engagements,” which included video conversations with students from their respective home countries.

According to reports, Turkey, Italy, and Sweden contributed to funding the mission by each providing approximately $55 million.

Axiom Space has announced their intention to conduct their fourth mission, AX-4, to the International Space Station (ISS) in the upcoming year. The launch will take place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse contributed to the data in this report.

Source: voanews.com