Soyuz Returns From Private Astronaut Mission to the ISS
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese private astronauts returned to Earth late Dec. 19, wrapping up a banner year for commercial human spaceflight.
The Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 6:50 p.m. Eastern, more than 11 days after its arrival there. It safely landed in Kazakhstan at 10:13 p.m. Eastern.
The Soyuz returned to Earth Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin along with Japanese private astronauts Yusaku MZ" Maezawa and Yozo Hirano. The three launched to the station on a Soyuz rocket Dec. 8 in a flight brokered by American space tourism company Space Adventures.
Maezawa, the billionaire founder of fashion retailer Zozo, spent his time in space doing a series of videos about life on the station. Those activities included an ad for food delivery company Uber Eats where Maezawa, dressed like a delivery person, handed over a bag of canned foods to Misurkin. Hirano, Maezawa's assistant, helped produce the videos.
[...] This year saw four organizations perform seven dedicated commercial human spaceflights. Virgin Galactic conducted two flights of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, including one in July that carried Richard Branson about the 80-kilometer altitude that the company, and U.S. government agencies, define as space for the purposes of astronaut recognition. Blue Origin carried out three crewed flights of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, most recently Dec. 11, taking 14 people to altitudes above 100 kilometers. SpaceX's Crew Dragon carried out the Inspiration4 mission in September, taking four people on a three-day orbital flight.
Also at: trio-of-russian-japanese-space-station-visitors-safely-back-on-earth.
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