The Axiom-4 mission will be launched via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at 12:01pm IST on Wednesday.
Axiom-4 mission marks India’s first human spaceflight in 40 years after Rakesh Sharma
Photo Credit: Axiom Space
Axiom-4 mission (also known as Ax-4), which is carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), is finally taking off today. The mission was originally scheduled to take off on June 10, but it was delayed several times due to technical issues. The mission also marks an important moment for India as the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Shubhanshu Shukla will become the first Indian to take a spaceflight in the last 40 years. Rakesh Sharma last achieved this feat in 1984.
Both NASA and SpaceX have confirmed that the Axiom-4 mission will be launched on Wednesday at 12:01pm IST. The mission is a collaboration between Axiom Space, SpaceX, and NASA, and marks the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS. The mission will be launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon capsule.
The Axiom-4 mission is carrying a team of four astronauts. The commander of the mission is Peggy Whitson, Axiom's Director of Human Spaceflight and a former NASA astronaut. Apart from her, India's Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland's Sławosz Uznański, and Hungary's Tibor Kapu are the other crewmates. While Shukla is the pilot, the other two are mission specialists.
Notably, Shukla, Uznański, and Kapu are the first individuals from their respective countries to launch on a mission to the ISS. The docking is expected to take place on Thursday, June 26, at 4:30pm IST.
The crewmates will spend approximately two weeks on the space station. During this time, they will live and work on the orbiting lab and conduct 60 different scientific experiments. These experiments will be around human physiology, Earth observation, biology, and materials science.
Those interested in watching this historic moment live can do so via NASA and Axiom's YouTube channels (here and here), or on SpaceX's X (formerly known as Twitter) account. The webcast is currently live. The same channels will also live stream the docking process tomorrow.
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