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A commercial space mission carrying astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, marking the first time in decades these nations have sent their citizens into space.
Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre at 2:31 AM (0631 GMT) aboard a new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft is expected to dock with the ISS on Thursday around 1100 GMT and will remain there for up to 14 days.
The crew includes pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, and commander Peggy Whitson of the United States.
Whitson is a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the company organising these private spaceflights.
The last time astronauts from India, Poland, or Hungary travelled to space, they were known as cosmonauts, flying on Soviet missions before their respective countries gained independence after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Shukla, 39, expressed the profound significance of his journey, stating at a recent news conference, “I carry with me not just instruments and equipment, but the hopes and dreams of a billion hearts.”
He is the first Indian to go to space since Rakesh Sharma, an air force pilot who flew to the Salyut 7 space station in 1984 as part of a Soviet-led initiative.
India’s space agency, ISRO, views this flight as a vital step towards its maiden crewed mission, planned for 2027 under the Gaganyaan programme. India’s science and technology minister, Jitendra Singh, congratulated Shukla, calling it “indeed a proud moment for India!”
While on the ISS, Shukla is anticipated to speak with a high-profile Indian dignitary, widely speculated to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a move designed to boost national pride.
The three participating nations are covering the costs for their astronauts, though only Hungary has publicly disclosed its payment of $100 million for its seat in 2022, according to spacenews.com. India and Poland have not revealed their expenses.
The Ax-4 launch faced multiple delays from its initial early June schedule. It also follows a notable public disagreement between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Trump had threatened to withdraw federal contracts from SpaceX, prompting Musk to initially threaten an early retirement of the Crew Dragon, the only US spacecraft currently certified for crew transport to the ISS.
Musk later retracted his threat, acknowledging he had gone “too far.” Analysts believe that both the US government and SpaceX are too interdependent for a significant rupture to occur.
The Ax-4 flight marks the debut of the fifth and final Crew Dragon vehicle, which will be named once it reaches orbit, joining Endeavour, Resilience, Endurance, and Freedom in the active fleet.
SpaceX plans to gradually replace its current vehicles with its next-generation Starship rocket in the 2030s.
During their time on the ISS, the Ax-4 crew will conduct approximately 60 experiments, including studies on microalgae, sprouting salad seeds, and the survival of microscopic tardigrades in space.
