SpaceX launches Axiom AX-4 crew to Space Station, check docking and other details

On Wednesday, at 2:31 a.m. EDT, SpaceX launched a new Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft with the Axiom AX-4 human crew to the International Space Station. The mission lifted off from Launch Complex 30A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This flight was initially targeted for June 11, which was delayed three times before finalizing a launch at midnight.

This is Axiom’s fourth private mission to the orbiting lab with the following crew members.

• Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, as commander
• ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) astronaut and pilot Shubhanshu Shukla
• Mission specialists ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and HUNOR (Hungarian to Orbit) astronaut Tibor Kapu of Hungary

However, it is widely recognized as a collaboration between NASA and ISRO to complete a pact between the US and India to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station.

SpaceX Axiom AX-4 mission lifted off from Launch Complex 30A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Source – SpaceX)

These two space agencies are collaborating in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit science, technology, engineering, and mathematics demonstrations.

The crew will spend two weeks at the space station before returning to Earth with Dragon and splashdown off the coast of California. During their stay, the crew will conduct various research and experiments.

After separating from Falcon 9, the Dragon is en route to the orbiting lab, and the spacecraft will autonomously dock at around 7 a.m. on Thursday, June 26, to the space-facing port of the space station’s Harmony module.

These will be welcomed by onboard astronauts – Nicole Ayers, Anne McClain, and Jonny Kim, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Kirill Peskov, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Alexey Zubritsky.