The crew of the first fully private mission to the International Space Station are now on their way back to Earth after a two-week stay.
Three wealthy businessmen — who each paid $55 million (£41 million) to take part in the trip — were joined by a former NASA astronaut for the history-making mission, which was organised by startup company Axiom Space.
Canadian investor Mark Pathy, US entrepreneur Larry Connor, ex-Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe and retired astronaut Michael López-Alegría had been due to spend eight days carrying out scientific experiments on the space station.
But bad weather repeatedly delayed their departure, meaning they actually worked alongside the seven regular, government-paid crew for a total of 16 days.
As there were 11 residents on the ISS, the newcomers were forced to sleep in unusual places, with Stibbe and Pathy in the Columbus module, Connor in the spacecraft that took them to the space station, and López-Alegría in the airlock.
Their SpaceX capsule eventually undocked from the ISS at 01:10 BST this morning (20:10 ET yesterday) ahead of a 16-hour return flight.
The crew of the first fully private mission to the International Space Station are now on their way back to Earth after a two-week stay. Pictured, from left, US entrepreneur Larry Connor, retired astronaut Michael López-Alegría, Canadian investor Mark Pathy and ex-Israeli Air Force pilot Eytan Stibbe
A live NASA webcast showed the Axiom astronauts, garbed in their helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, strapped into the crew cabin shortly before the spacecraft separated from the station, orbiting some 250 miles (420 km) above Earth.
A couple of brief rocket thrusts then pushed the capsule safely clear of the ISS.
If all goes smoothly, the Dragon capsule, dubbed Endeavour, will parachute into the Atlantic off the coast of Florida at around 18:00 BST (13:00 ET).
Hailed as a milestone in commercial spaceflight, the Axiom quartet became the first all-private astronaut team ever launched to the space station.
They took equipment for two dozen science experiments, biomedical research and technology demonstrations to conduct in orbit, including on cardiac health and cognitive performance in low gravity.
The trio were also involved in the first two-way Holoportation experiment performed in space — technology that NASA hopes could one day be used by astronauts to speak to loved ones during long-duration spaceflights, or for doctors to remotely examine patients.
Pathy spent a lot of time in the station’s famous observation cupola, photographing the Earth from 250 miles (400 kilometers) overhead, while Stibbe helped grow meat in space.
Connor, who acted as pilot, collaborated with the Mayo Clinic during his mission, with data from his vital signs helping to inform the future of long-duration space travel.
It is looking at the impact of space travel on senescent cells and heart health, with Connor maintaining a vial of senescent cells — those are cells that have stopped dividing and thought to be responsible for aging.
The four men left Earth for the ISS on April 8.
While the space station has hosted civilian visitors from time to time, the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) marked the first all-commercial team of astronauts to use ISS for its intended purpose as an orbiting laboratory.
The trip, carried out in partnership with the commercial spaceflight company Axiom Space, is designed to be a pre-cursor to wider moves into the commercial space sector.
Axiom Space is behind the first fully commercial module being developed for the ISS — due to launch in 2024.
The firm has loftier ambitions than just a module on the ISS, with aspirations to build a free floating commercial space station in low-Earth orbit once NASA retires the ISS in 2031.
So far, Russia has sent seven self-funded tourists to space in partnership with the US-based company Space Adventures.
The four men left Earth for the International Space Station on April 8 (pictured)
The projects they worked aboard the ISS (pictured) included an EEG-enabled space helmet, and the first two-way Holoportation experiment to be performed in space
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, along with his assistant Yozo Hirano, became the latest to do so when they had a 12-day stay on the ISS at the end of last year.
NASA recently announced the ISS had just nine years of operational life left, with plans to sink it in the South Pacific Ocean in January 2031.
On the run up to that happening, the space agency plans to support commercial operators in launching privately funded and run space stations, starting with an Axiom Space module attached to the ISS.
This launch is a precursor to that module, which is expected to dock with the station by the middle of this decade, part of NASA’s efforts to built a robust low-Earth orbit economy — driven by the private sector, rather than national players.
Axiom recently completed the preliminary design review of two modules that will be attached to the ISS this decade, then separate into its own free-flying station.