Florida: The First private astronaut mission to International Space Station is back on Earth. The Falcon 9 spacecraft landed in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida at around 10.37 pm (1.07 pm Florida time) on Monday.

The recovery team was set up at seven locations in the Atlantic Ocean. After a 45 minute recovery process, the crew members were pulled out of the spacecraft.

The crew started their return journey from the International Space Station at 6 am (IST) on Monday. The journey to Earth took 16 hours. When it reached two kilometers above sea level, two parachutes were opened to control the spacecraft's speed. The remaining two parachutes were operated when the distance was only one kilometer  from sea level.

The mission, which is being implemented jointly by SpaceX, and Axiom Space, will include Lopez Alegria, a senior astronaut and vice president of business development at Axiom, and three billionaire entrepreneurs from the US, Canada and Israel, who are Larry Corner, Eitan Stibbe and Mark Pathy.

The Falcon 9 spacecraft started its journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 8. At the end of a 20-hour journey after the launch, the spacecraft reached the ISS. They spent 15 days in the ISS. It took a total of 17 days for the mission.