• NASA and its international partners have approved the crew for Axiom Space’s fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS), launching from Florida no earlier than spring 2025.
• Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been selected as the pilot for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4).
• Shukla will create history as the first Indian astronaut to travel to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the space station in Florida as part of a joint effort between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission.
• The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
• The Ax-4 crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and travel to the space station. Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprised of science, outreach, and commercial activities.
Previous Axiom Missions
• The first private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 1, lifted off in April 2022 for a 17-day mission aboard the orbiting laboratory.
• Axiom Mission 2 was launched in May 2023 with four private astronauts who spent eight days in orbit.
• Axiom Mission 3 was launched in January 2024 and the crew spent 18 days docked to the space station.
(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)