Florida. A private spaceflight carrying the first astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary in more than 40 years ended on Tuesday with a landing in the Pacific Ocean.

Their SpaceX capsule separated from the International Space Station on Monday and landed in less than 24 hours with the help of a parachute at sea off the coast of Southern California.

The four-member team launched on a chartered flight by Houston company Axiom Space about three weeks ago.

Peggy Whitson of Axiom, the most experienced American astronaut, served as commander. He was accompanied by India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Slavosz Uznanski-Wisnievsky and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu. Their countries paid more than $65 million each for the mission.

The visiting astronauts conducted dozens of experiments in orbit to celebrate their heritage. India, Poland and Hungary last launched into space with the Soviets in the late 1970s and 1980s.

It was Axiom’s fourth mission to the orbiting post since 2022 and is part of NASA’s ongoing efforts to open up space for more businesses and people. The company is one of many to develop its own space stations to replace the current station. NASA plans to leave the post in 2030 after more than 30 years of operation.