The Axiom-4 mission is targeting a launch window of 2:31 a.m. EDT or 12 noon IST on Wednesday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida in the US.
The crew, piloted by India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will travel to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. The targeted docking time is approximately 7 am EDT on Thursday or 4 pm IST.
The four-member crew which has been in quarantine in Florida will be commanded by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight. The mission specialists are ESA project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
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. 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.
For Group Captain Shukla this will be an opportunity to emulate fellow Indian Air Force Officer Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma who flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. Sharma spent seven days in space on board the Salyut 7 space station.
At the space station, Rakesh Sharma conducted experiments, such as understanding yoga’s effects on the human body in weightlessness and taking photographs of India from outer space. When, then PM Indira Gandhi asked him how India looked from space, he replied, “Saare Jahan Se Achha”, a phrase that has become an iconic milestone in India’s Space Odyssey.
“I grew up reading about him in textbooks and listening to his stories from space. I was deeply, deeply impressed by him. This journey that I am on, it has been a long one for me. And it started out somewhere, I did not know that this is the path it is going to finally take. I would say that I’ve been extremely fortunate and extremely lucky to have gotten the opportunities to first fly all my life, which was a dream job for me, and then have the opportunity to apply to the astronaut’s corps,” said Group Captain Shukla in a YouTube video posted by Ax-4 mission.
The Ax-4 mission is also conducting major research. The research complement includes around 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries, including the U.S., India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations across Europe.
This will be the most research and science-related activities conducted on an Axiom Space mission aboard the International Space Station to date, underscoring the mission’s global significance and collaborative nature to advance microgravity research in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
The mission emphasizes scientific portfolios led by the U.S., India, Poland (in partnership with ESA), and Hungary. It aims to boost participation in these countries by involving diverse stakeholders, showcasing the value of microgravity research, and fostering international collaboration. The studies will enhance global knowledge in human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences, demonstrating the space research capabilities of the crew’s home nations.
For ISRO and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla this mission lays the groundwork for India’s space roadmap is the goal to land an Indian on the Moon by 2040.
