Private spaceflight ends with a Pacific splashdown for astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary

CAPE CANAVERAL Fla AP A private spaceflight featuring the first astronauts in more than years from India Poland and Hungary came to a close Tuesday with a Pacific splashdown Their SpaceX capsule undocked from the I nternational Space Station on Monday and parachuted into the ocean off the Southern California coast less than hours later The crew of four launched nearly three weeks ago on a flight chartered by the Houston company Axiom Space Axiom s Peggy Whitson the majority of experienced U S astronaut served as commander Joining her were India s Shubhanshu Shukla Poland s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski and Hungary s Tibor Kapu whose countries paid more than million apiece for the mission Thanks for the great ride and safe trip Whitson radioed moments after splashdown The visiting astronauts conducted dozens of experiments in orbit while celebrating their heritage The last time India Poland and Hungary put anyone in space was during the late s and s launching with the Soviets It was Axiom s fourth mission to the orbiting outpost since part of NASA s ongoing effort to open up space to more businesses and people The company is one of several advancing their own space stations to replace the current one NASA plans to abandon the outpost in after more than years of operation The Associated Press Medical and Science Department receives patronage from the Howard Hughes Diagnostic Institute s Department of Science Guidance and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content Source