Axiom private astronauts to return home next week: Watch departure live

After concluding their space research and education mission aboard the orbiting lab, crew members of the Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, will return to Earth next week.

The Ax-1 quartet will undock from the Harmony module’s space-facing port on Tuesday at 10:35 a.m., Tuesday, April 19, to begin the journey home with splashdown off the coast of Florida no earlier than 7:19 a.m. EDT Wednesday, April 20, NASA said on Friday.

NASA and Axiom Space will provide live coverage of the farewell event, undocking and departure of the Axiom Mission 1 from the space station. The farewell ceremony between the Ax-1 and Expedition 67 crew members will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, the agency's website, and the company's website.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying Commander Michael López-Alegría of Spain and the United States, Pilot Larry Connor of the United States, and Mission Specialists Eytan Stibbe of Israel, and Mark Pathy of Canada aboard, lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, April 8, 2022, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour will return to Earth with more than 200 pounds of science and supplies, including NASA experiments and hardware.

Watch the Axiom Mission 1 (#Ax1) crew’s undocking and departure from the space station live on @NASA TV starting at 7:00am ET on Tuesday, April 19. https://t.co/lVEBjDOIp3

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 15, 2022

For the unversed, private astronaut missions are privately funded, fully commercial spaceflights aimed at enabling tourism, outreach, commercial research, and approved commercial and marketing activities on the space station. NASA has opened up the space station for commercial activities, including private astronaut missions, as part of its plan to develop a robust and competitive economy in low-Earth orbit (LEO).