The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), a landmark private spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) is all set to launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center today. The live coverage from ground zero has already begun with lift off expected to be sometime around noon. The four member crew includes Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, who will serve as the mission’s pilot.
Axiom Space is broadcasting the live coverage of the of the space mission on its official YouTube channel. NASA Space Flight is also broadcasting live coverage of the mission. You can watch it here.
Axiom Space, in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX, organised the mission, which features a diverse international crew and marks a major step forward in commercial and global space exploration.
Axiom-4 has experienced multiple delays leading up to today's launch. Initially, the mission was postponed due to unfavourable weather conditions, followed by technical issues, including detected leaks in the Falcon 9 rocket.
Timeline of the spaceflight:
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft scheduled to lift off at 2:31 a.m. EDT (12:01 p.m. IST) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Docking with the ISS is expected at around 7:00 a.m. EDT (4:30 p.m. IST) on Thursday, June 26.
"All systems are looking good for Wednesday’s launch of @Axiom_Space’s Ax-4 mission to the @Space_Station and weather is 90 per cent favorable for liftoff. Webcast starts at 12:30 a.m." SpaceX posted on X ahead of the launch.
Shukla is joined by veteran NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, ESA astronaut Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. For India, Hungary, and Poland, this mission signifies a return to human spaceflight after a long hiatus.
This is the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS under Axiom Space’s expanding program, signalling growing international interest in commercial space missions and partnerships.
