16.04.2022

The first NASA-sanctioned all-private crew to visit the International Space Station has had few problems adapting to weightlessness, but a non-stop schedule of proprietary research and public outreach has left little "window time" for sightseeing, their commander said Wednesday.

Since arriving at the station last Saturday, "it has been fast paced," retired astronaut Michael López-Alegría, the crew's leader and mentor, said in a space-to-ground interview with CBS News. "I think that's probably the biggest surprise, just how incredibly quick time goes by." 

"We've got a very tight timeline to keep up on all the activities that we have planned and it's a sprint, it's an all-out sprint," López-Alegría said. "But the guys are doing great, everybody loves microgravity. I mean, you can imagine, it's a ton of fun. And I think the only surprise is just how hard we're all working."

López-Alegría, Ohio businessman Larry Connor, Canadian entrepreneur Mark Pathy and Israeli Eytan Stibbe, a former F-16 fighter pilot and successful investor, blasted off in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsuleatop a Falcon 9 rocket last Friday, becoming the first all-private crew to visit the International Space Station.

Quelle: CBS News