SpaceX’s Private Spaceflight Touches Down Off Florida Coast

3-day journey paves way for era of commercial space tourism
Shift4’s billionaire CEO led proof-of-concept orbital mission

WATCH: Four space tourists safely ended their trailblazing trip to orbit Saturday with a splashdown in the Atlantic off the Florida coast. (Source: Bloomberg)

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By Justin Bachman

September 18, 2021 at 11:16 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

The first all-civilian crew to orbit the Earth splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, culminating a three-day journey aboard a SpaceX capsule that inaugurated a new era of privately financed space travel for non-professional astronauts.

The SpaceX Dragon fired thrusters to begin its entry into the atmosphere, a journey in which the vehicle experiences temperatures as high as 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927 degrees Celsius). It operates with six parachutes to slow descent, including four main parachutes.