A historic private space mission carrying astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary concluded Tuesday with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, marking the end of their nearly three-week journey in space.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule, chartered by Houston-based Axiom Space, undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday and safely parachuted into waters off the coast of Southern California early Tuesday morning.

The mission featured the first astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary to travel to space in more than four decades, with each country paying over $65 million for their participation. The last time astronauts from these nations flew was during joint missions with the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

Commanding the mission was Axiom’s Peggy Whitson, the most seasoned U.S. astronaut, who now holds a cumulative spaceflight record of 695 days across five missions — more than any other American or woman. “Thanks for the great ride and safe trip,” she radioed after splashdown.

Whitson was joined by India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu. The astronauts conducted numerous scientific experiments aboard the ISS and celebrated their national identities during their time in orbit. They appeared in good spirits as they exited the capsule one by one in the pre-dawn hours, waving and smiling.

This was Axiom Space’s fourth crewed mission to the ISS since 2022, part of NASA’s broader push to commercialize low-Earth orbit and expand access to space. Axiom is among several private companies working to build new space stations, as NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2030 after more than three decades of operation.