Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew members lifted off on June 25, 2025, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.
Key Points:
- The Ax-4 lifted off for the International Space Station (ISS) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- Ax-4 is a commercial flight operated by Houston-based private firm Axiom Space.
- The mission is a collaboration between NASA, India’s space agency ISRO, European Space Agency (ESA) and SpaceX.
- Ax-4 is the second commercial spaceflight mission made up of government and ESA-sponsored national astronauts.
About Axiom Mission 4 Crew:
» The Space Mission was launched carrying four astronauts from India, Hungary, Poland and the US.
- Peggy Whitson, Commander
- Shubhanshu Shukla, Pilot
- Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, Mission Specialist
- Tibor Kapu, Mission Specialist
» Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, is commanding the commercial mission.
» Indian Space Research Organization Astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, serving as the Mission Pilot, is part of a four-member international crew heading to the International Space Station (ISS).
» The two mission specialists are European Space Agency project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Docking at ISS:
» The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked autonomously to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module on June 26, 2025, for the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4.
- With their arrival, the total crew strength of ISS is now 11.
Research Activities:
» The private astronauts plan to spend about two weeks aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission of science, outreach, and commercial activities.
- During its two-week mission, the crew will spend most of its time carrying out 60 scientific experiments, seven of which are designed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- Shubhanshu Shukla will conduct exclusive food and nutrition-related experiments developed under a collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), with support from NASA.
About Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla:
» Shubhanshu Shukla was born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
- Before joining the National Defence Academy, Shukla received his schooling from City Montessori School. He holds an MTech in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.
- He was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 2006, and has over 2,000 hours of flying time on a wide range of aircraft including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Jaguar, and Dornier-228.
- Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a distinguished pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF), has been handpicked as one of the four astronauts for the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) historic Gaganyaan mission—the nation’s inaugural human space flight endeavor.
- Shukla and the three other Gaganyaan astronauts received extensive training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia and ISRO’s Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru.
First Indian to set foot on International Space Station(ISS):
- Indian Astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has created history by becoming the first Indian ever to set foot on the International Space Station (ISS).
- After 41 years, Shubhanshu Shukla is only the second Indian to travel to space. Earlier, cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly aboard a Russian Soyuz in 1984.
» ISRO paid 5 billion rupees ($59 million; £43 million) to secure a seat on the Ax-4 for Group Captain Shukla and his training.