An American commercial crewed mission with astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary launched to the International Space Station on Wednesday, delivering astronauts from those countries to space for the first time in decades. The countries sent their astronauts into space as part of the Axiom 4 mission, along with an American commander. This is reported by The Guardian, according to UNN.
Details
The Axiom Mission 4 mission was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:31 a.m. local time with a new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket.
The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the orbital laboratory on Thursday and remain there for up to 14 days.
On board the spacecraft were Indian test pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. As well as American commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who now works for Axiom Space, which, among other things, organizes private spaceflights.
When India, Poland, or Hungary last sent people into space, their current generation of astronauts was not yet born. And then they were called cosmonauts, as they carried out Soviet missions before the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Shukla became the first Indian in space since Rakesh Sharma, an Air Force pilot who flew to the Salyut-7 space station in 1984 as part of a Soviet initiative to help allied countries access space.
Shukla is expected to speak with Modi on board the ISS as part of a soft power display aimed at fueling national pride.
All three countries are paying the bills for their astronauts. Hungary announced in 2022 that it would pay $100 million for its seat, spacenews.com reports. India and Poland have not disclosed how much they are spending.
We will do it! Poland has reached for the stars. Who knows how many future Polish astronauts watched Sławosz's launch with me? Everyone was very excited and very proud
Several problems delayed the launch of the Ax-4 mission, originally scheduled for early June. This came after an explosive online feud between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX head Elon Musk, the world's richest man and until recently an ally and advisor to Trump.
Any rift between SpaceX and the US government would have huge devastating consequences, given NASA's and the Pentagon's reliance on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy to deliver crew, cargo, satellites and probes. But for now, analysts believe both sides are too entangled to risk a serious rift.
The Ax-4 flight marks the debut of the fifth and final Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will be named after reaching orbit, joining Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance and Freedom in the active fleet.
SpaceX eventually plans to phase out its current vehicles in the 2030s in favor of Starship, its giant next-generation rocket currently in development.
Ax-4 will conduct about 60 experiments, including studies of microalgae, lettuce seed germination, and how well microscopic creatures called tardigrades survive in space.
SpaceX launches historic Axiom-4 astronaut mission to ISS25.06.25, 13:00 • [views_3290]