CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronauts from Turkey, Italy and Sweden returned to Earth on Friday, ending a private three-week mission to the Worldwide Area Station.
The trio have been accompanied by a retired NASA astronaut who now works for Axiom Space, the Houston firm that organized the chartered flight. The crew returned in a SpaceX capsule that parachuted into the Atlantic off the Florida coast.
Turkey celebrated Alper Gezeravci’s launch from Cape Canaveral final month. A former fighter pilot and captain for Turkish Airways, he grew to become the primary particular person from his nation to fly in area.
Gezeravci was joined on the journey by Italian Air Power Col. Walter Villadei, Sweden’s Marcus Wandt, a former fighter pilot chosen as a reserve astronaut by the European Area Company in 2022 and Michael Lopez-Alegria, their escort.
Turkey, Italy and Sweden financed the mission, paying roughly $55 million apiece. It was Axiom’s third non-public mission to the area station; the fourth is deliberate later this yr.
Earlier than leaving the area station, Gezeravci thanked his nation for its “daring and decided determination” to ship a citizen into area as a part of its one centesimal anniversary as a republic.
Whereas in orbit, the astronauts performed science experiments and chatted with schoolchildren and officers from their nations. They loved a couple of further days on the area station, ready for the climate to enhance within the splashdown zone.