After multiple postponements due to technical glitches and bad weather conditions, Axiom Space on Thursday finalised the date for the launch of its mission to the International Space Station (ISS) carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others. The Axiom-4 Mission will be launched onboard the Dragon spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Sunday, June 22.
Viewers can catch the live streaming of the launch on the official website of Axiom Space from 1:35 am (local time).
“The #Ax4 crew is targeted to launch no earlier than June 22 at 3:42 AM EDT from Launch Complex 39A at @NASAKennedy . Tune in for the launch broadcast starting at 1:35 AM EDT,” Axion Space said in an X post.
The mission is a collaboration between Axiom Space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The Axiom-4 was initially targeted for May 29, but it was postponed several times.
About The Mission:
“The Ax-4 mission will “realize the return” to human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary, with each nation’s first government-sponsored flight in more than 40 years,” Axiom Space’s official website reads.
“While Ax-4 marks these countries' second human spaceflight mission in history, it will be the first time all three nations will execute a mission on board the International Space Station,” it added.
Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission. Shukla will serve as the pilot. The two mission specialists are European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
