All-private astronaut team returns safely from landmark space station visit
PHOTO: FOOTAGE OF INFRARED TRACKING CAMERA SHOWING DRAGON CAPSULE ENTERING EARTH'S ORBIT PRIOR TO SPLASHDOWN IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN FOUR MAIN PARACHUTES DEPLOYING LIVE VIEW OF CREW INSIDE DRAGON CAPSULE, AFTER ENTERING EARTH'S ORB
INTERNATIONAL: The first all-private astronaut team ever flown aboard the International Space Station (ISS) safely splashed down in the Atlantic off Florida's coast on Monday (April 25) completing a two-week science mission hailed as a milestone in commercial spaceflight.
The SpaceX crew capsule carrying the four-man team, led by a retired NASA astronaut who is now vice president of the Texas Company behind the mission, Axiom Space, parachuted into the sea after a 16-hour descent from orbit.
The splashdown, carried live by a joint Axiom-SpaceX webcast, was originally planned for last Wednesday, but the return flight was delayed due to unfavourable weather.
The return from orbit followed a plunge through Earth's atmosphere generating frictional heat that sends temperatures surrounding the outside of the capsule soaring to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius). The astronauts' flight suits are designed to keep them cool as the cabin heats up.
Applause was heard from the SpaceX flight control center in suburban Los Angeles as parachutes billowed open above the capsule in the final stage of its descent - slowing its fall to about 15 miles per hour (24 km per hour) - and again as the craft hit the water off the coast of Jacksonville.
A small recovery boat with a three-member team reached the Crew Dragon minutes later to secure the visibly heat scorched craft as it bobbed upright in the ocean. The capsule was hoisted from the sea onto the deck of a larger recovery vessel about 40 minutes later, and the hatch was opened to let the astronauts emerge.
A camera shot from inside the capsule showed the four crew members strapped into their seats, garbed in their helmeted white-and-black spacesuits.
The mission's crew was assembled, equipped and trained entirely at private expense by Axiom, a five-year-old venture based in Houston and headed by NASA's former ISS program manager.
The U.S. space agency furnished the launch site at its Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and assumed responsibility for the Axiom crew while they were aboard the space station. NASA's ISS crew members also pitched in to assist the private astronauts when needed.
The multinational Axiom team was led by Spanish-born retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, 63, the company's vice president for business development. His second-in-command was Larry Connor, 72, a technology entrepreneur and aerobatics aviator from Ohio designated the mission pilot.
Joining them as "mission specialists" were investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, 64, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy, 52.
Connor, Stibbe and Pathy flew as customers of Axiom, which charges $50 million to $60 million per seat for such flights.
Launched on April 8, they spent 15 days aboard the space station with the seven regular, government-paid ISS crew members: three American astronauts, a German astronaut and three Russian cosmonauts.
SpaceX, the private launch service founded by Tesla Inc TSLA.O electric carmaker CEO Elon Musk, supplied the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule that carried Axiom's team to and from orbit, controlled the flight and handled the splashdown recovery.
SpaceX has been hired to fly three more Axiom astronaut missions to ISS over the next two years.
Putin Accuses West Of Plotting To Kill Russian Journalists
PHOTO: RUSSIAN PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN SPEAKING AT MEETING OF RUSSIAN PROSECUTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE MEMBERS AND OTHER HIGH LEVEL OFFICIALS
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday 25th April accused the West of trying to murder Russian journalists and said the Federal Security Service (FSB) had thwarted one such attempt on a television reporter.
"This morning, the Federal Security Service stopped the activities of a terrorist group that planned to attack and kill one famous Russian TV journalist," Putin told prosecutors.
"They have moved to terror - to preparing the murder of our journalists," Putin said.
He did not immediately provide evidence to support his claims. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the claims.
The Interfax news agency said that members of a nationalist group had been detained by Russian authorities. Interfax said. The group, acting on the orders of Ukrainian spies, was plotting to kill Russian journalist Vladimir Solovyev.
Putin said the West was trying to destroy Russia from the inside but that such attempts would fail. He said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was directing attempts to undermine Russia and advising the Ukrainian government.
Putin also said foreign media organizations and social media had been used by the West to confect provocations against Russia's armed forces. Such actions, he said, should be stopped.
Firefighters Tackle Apartment Block Blaze After Residential Areas Struck In Kharkiv
PHOTO: VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISHING BLAZE IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS, SOUNDBITE FROM KHARKIV RESIDENT
Firefighters battled a blaze in a multi-storey residential building after a Russian attack on Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv on Monday 25th April
Emergency workers broke into one of the burning apartments, as local residents watched on.
At least two apartments were severely damaged.
"Complete bastards, you can't even imagine, it is horrific," said one eyewitness, Oleksandr.
Ukraine's general staff said Russia was shelling Kharkiv, its second-biggest city. Shelling by the Russian army has intensified in recent weeks.
Moscow, which describes its actions in Ukraine as a "special military operation", denies targeting civilians.
