Private spaceflight ends with Pacific splashdown for astronauts

Commander Peggy Whitson, Hungary’s Tibor Kapu, India’s Shubhanshu Shukla and Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, during a farewell ceremony aboard the International Space Station (Axiom Space via AP)

A private spaceflight featuring the first astronauts in more than 40 years from India, Poland and Hungary came to a close on Tuesday with a Pacific splashdown.

The SpaceX capsule undocked from the International Space Station on Monday and parachuted into the ocean off the Southern California coast, less than 24 hours later.