I'm Nicky Strong, rest in peace, VOA 1, the hits.

Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from The Voice of America.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use

words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Today, the first non-professional astronauts to complete space walks have returned to Earth.

Brian Lynn tells us about the historic mission.

Anna Mateo presents this week's health and lifestyle report, and Andrew Smith and

Smith and Jill Robbins present the lesson of the day. But first,

The four-member crew of a private spaceflight has returned to Earth after a trip that included the first ever

spacewalks by non-professional astronauts.

American business leader Jared Isaacman organized and paid for the five-day mission called Polaris Dawn.

The American company, SpaceX, was a partner in the operation. It built both the crew dragon

capsule and the Falcon Nine rocket that carried it to space. The capsule dropped into the Gulf of Mexico near Florida

early Sunday as planned.

The mission is historic for two reasons.

First, Crew Dragon reached a top altitude of more than 1,400 kilometers.

That was the highest level any crude mission has reached

since the American Space Agency NASA's Apollo program

ended in the early 1970s. Second, two crew members completed spacewalks during the mission.

Isaacman was first to pop his head out of the crew dragon capsule on September 12th.

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