SpaceX Confirms All Systems Go For Axiom Mission 4; India’s Shubhanshu Shukla To Pilot Dragon To ISS

Florida: SpaceX has announced that all systems involved in the launch for the Axiom Mission 4 were "looking good" as NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting a 2:31 am EDT launch ( (Noon IST) on Wednesday of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

In a post on X, SpaceX on Tuesday (local time) stated that the weather was 90 per cent favourable for liftoff on Wednesday evening (local time).

"All systems are looking good for Wednesday's launch of Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission to the International Space Station, and weather is 90 per cent favourable for liftoff," SpaceX stated.

The Axiom-4 mission will be launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The mission holds much significance for India's space capabilities, as the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will be piloted by India's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla after launching on the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

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 April 3, 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme, becoming the first Indian in space.

The Group Captain will now be rewriting history, as he is set to become the second Indian in space and the first to visit the ISS.

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 "realise 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 ISRO and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, this mission lays the groundwork for India's space roadmap, with the country's first human Space mission "Gaganyaan" scheduled for the first quarter of 2027 and to land an Indian on the Moon by 2040.

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