Axiom-4 Liftoff: Watch Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla And Crew Successfully Take Off For ISS
According to NASA, the crew is expected to dock with the ISS around 4:30 p.m. IST on Thursday, June 26.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, along with three international crewmates, successfully lifted off to the International Space Station on Wednesday following multiple delays. The mission was launched at 12:01 p.m. IST from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
According to NASA, the crew is expected to dock with the ISS around 4:30 p.m. IST on Thursday, June 26. They are traveling aboard a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which was launched atop the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend about two weeks aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprising science, outreach, and commercial activities.
Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are European Space Agency project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu.
The Axiom-4 mission has run into multiple delays; first on account of inclement weather and then due to leaks detected on SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket and later on the Russian module of the International Space Station.
As part of a collaboration between NASA and ISRO, Axiom Mission 4 delivers on a commitment highlighted by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station, the NASA statement said.
The space agencies are participating in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) demonstrations.
