Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe and the three other members of the Axiom-1 (Ax-1) mission are back on Earth following a 15-day stay in the International Space Station.
Their spacecraft, the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor, undocked from the ISS at 9:10 p.m. ET on Sunday and splashed down off the Florida coast this afternoon. The return trip had been delayed for several days due to bad weather.
Stibbe, a businessman and a former Israeli Air Force fighter pilot, is the second Israeli to travel to space and the first to board the ISS. During his time in orbit, he conducted 35 scientific experiments as part of the Rakia Mission, led by the Ramon Foundation in collaboration with the Israel Space Agency and Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.
Stibbe, mission commander Michael López-Alegría, pilot Larry Connor and Stibbe’s fellow mission specialist Mark Pathy conducted experiments for more than 25 research projects with international partners, including, in addition to the Ramon Foundation, the Mayo Clinic, the Montreal Children’s Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic.
In a farewell ceremony prior to departure, Stibbe (floating inverted relative to the camera) said in Hebrew that his journey had been unique, and that all the astronauts aboard the ISS had “lent a hand,” according to the No Camels website. JNS
Kiddush Hashem. Me kiamcha Yisroel.
A kiddish hashem to miss the Seder? Not eat matzah? Etc.
In which desert was he? Was his “moon landing” in the Arizona desert where the first astronauts were?