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SpaceX, together with Axiom House, is able to launch the fourth personal Dragon mission to the Worldwide House Station (ISS). Axiom-4 (Ax-4) will embody the American astronaut with essentially the most time in house and members from three totally different nations, every marking that nation’s first journey to the Station.
Launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complicated 39A (LC-39A) on the Kennedy House Heart (KSC) is scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, at 8:00 AM EDT (12:00 UTC). The mission is anticipated to spend as much as 14 days docked to the ISS.
Mission overview
The Ax-4 mission has the slogan “understand the return,” which is supposed to represent the return of three totally different nations to spaceflight. Poland, Hungary, and India have every despatched one human to house beforehand in 1978, 1980, and 1984, respectively. This flight will see every nation have an astronaut onboard.
All three nations have additionally by no means had a human presence aboard the ISS all through its greater than 25 years in orbit previous to this flight.
The Ax-4 crew began familiarizing themselves with the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. (Credit score: SpaceX)
The first goal of the mission is to finish as a lot analysis as doable in the course of the two weeks onboard the station. With almost 60 scientific research from 31 totally different nations — together with the USA of America (USA), India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and extra — this would be the most analysis performed on any Axiom mission launched thus far.
Assuming an on-time liftoff, docking is scheduled for June 11 at 12:30 PM EDT (16:30 UTC), with analysis in a position to start shortly after.
The crew
The mission might be commanded by Peggy Whitson, piloted by Shubhanshu Shukla, with mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu.
Peggy Whitson, who was inducted into the US Astronaut Corridor of Fame simply weeks earlier than the flight, presently holds the document for essentially the most time spent in house by an American with 675 complete days in orbit.
Ax-4 mission commander Peggy Whitson. (Credit score: Axiom House)
With greater than 38 years of NASA expertise, Whitson has held the roles of chief of the Astronaut Workplace, chair of NASA’s Astronaut Choice Board, chief of NASA’s Operations Department, and deputy division chief for each Medical Sciences and the Astronaut Workplace.
She has flown on 4 totally different missions to house, all of them to the ISS. She first flew on Expedition 5, the place she was named NASA’s first science officer, and likewise flew on Expeditions 16 and 50/51/52. Throughout that point, she carried out 10 spacewalks, setting the document for essentially the most spacewalks by a feminine.
Whitson then assumed the place of director of human spaceflight for AxiomSpace and changing into the primary lady to command a personal house mission throughout Ax-2.
She grew up on a farm exterior the city of Beaconsfield, Iowa, earlier than acquiring levels in biology and chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan and a doctoral diploma in biochemistry from Rice College.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla was born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. He joined the Indian Air Pressure in 2006 as a part of their fighter wing. He has greater than 2,000 hours of flight expertise flying the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32.
Ax-4 mission pilot Shubhanshu Shukla. (Credit score: Axiom House)
In 2019, Shukla took half in a year-long coaching occasion on the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Coaching Heart in Star Metropolis, Russia. In February 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled him as one in every of 4 astronauts chosen to coach for human spaceflight, together with eventual flights as a part of the Indian Gaganyaan human spaceflight missions. This might be his first spaceflight.
Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski is becoming a member of the crew as a European House Company (ESA) undertaking astronaut. He started his increased schooling in Łódź, Poland, the place he earned a Grasp of Science with honors on the College of Expertise in 2008. The identical 12 months, he additionally obtained one other grasp’s from the Université de Nantes in France.
He accomplished his doctoral dissertation on the College of Aix-Marseille in 2011, specializing in hardening digital gadgets in opposition to radiation throughout spaceflight.
Ax-4 mission specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. (Credit score: Axiom House)
Sławosz then lent his experience to the European Group for Nuclear Analysis (CERN) in Geneva, the place he grew to become Engineer in Cost for the well-known Massive Hadron Collider.
Uznański-Wiśniewski was chosen as a part of the ESA Astronaut Reserve Class of 2022.
Tibor Kapu was born November 5, 1991, in Nyíregyháza, Hungary. He would go on to earn a level in mechanical engineering from the Budapest College of Expertise and Economics earlier than finishing his grasp’s, specializing in polymer know-how.
He contributed to the pharmaceutical and logistical industries and labored on hybrid automotive battery growth within the automotive trade throughout his profession, earlier than engaged on learning house radiation safety.
Ax-4 mission specialist Tibor Kapu. (Credit score: Axiom House)
Kapu was chosen as one in every of 4 for the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) astronaut program in 2023.
Whereas not learning or working, he’s an avid leisure skydiver, having accomplished 38 profitable jumps in addition to 21 half marathons.
Automobiles
This flight will mark the debut of the fifth and remaining Crew Dragon capsule to enter SpaceX’s lively rotation. C213 has but to obtain an official identify and is anticipated to obtain one from its crew as soon as it has arrived in orbit. This is able to be a part of Endeavour, Endurance, Freedom, and Resilience to finish the fleet.
The capsule has already confronted points. The automobile was initially supposed to launch the Crew-10 mission, which on the time was scheduled for February 2025. Following points with the propulsion and environmental management methods onboard, it was as an alternative changed by Endurance, the capsule initially assigned to Ax-4, which then launched to the ISS in March.
Crew Dragon C213 rolling out to LC-39A previous to its inaugural flight. (Credit score: SpaceX)
The Ax-4 launch was additionally delayed barely to permit for “spacecraft readiness,” pushing the mission from Could 29 to the present launch date.
The booster for this flight is B1094-2. It will mark the automobile’s second flight into house following the launch of the Starlink 12-10 mission on April 28. That may imply a turnaround of simply over a month and a half.
The booster will carry out a Return to Launch Web site (RTLS) touchdown at LZ-1, situated only a few miles from the KSC launch website on the close by Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station.
Zero-G indicator
For the reason that return of crew flight to US soil in 2020, missions now include an merchandise that can float as an indicator that the spacecraft and its crew have entered weightlessness. This flight will embody Pleasure, an opulent child swan symbolizing grace and magnificence.
“Pleasure” the Bay Swan would be the Ax-4 zero-g indicator. (Credit score: Axiom House)
In response to Axiom House, “Pleasure embodies the shared pursuit of ISRO, ESA, and HUNOR to soar excessive above our dwelling planet. The swan, recognized for its grace and magnificence, carries allegorical meanings throughout cultures. In India, it symbolizes knowledge and purity, representing the pursuit of fact. In Poland, the swan stands for purity, loyalty, and resilience, whereas in Hungary, it epitomizes loyalty, grace, and the great thing about nature. By selecting a swan because the zero-g indicator, the Ax-4 crew celebrates the variety of their cultures, united within the shared human expertise of house exploration.”
Science experiments
With almost 60 experiments, this mission can have a full slate of experiments to finish. This features a examine to analyze whether or not astronauts with insulin-dependent diabetes might be supported for short-duration stays in microgravity. It will embody the examine of astronauts’ blood glucose ranges to verify for information accuracy and eventual viability of insulin in cooperation with a UAE-based healthcare supplier.
A joint NASA/ISRO examine will see if it’s doable to regrow muscle fibers in house. The Myogenesis-ISRO investigation makes use of muscle stem cell cultures to look at the muscle restore course of and take a look at chemical compounds recognized to assist mitochondrial operate. The hope is to not solely use it as a option to fight deterioration on long-duration spaceflights but additionally assist athletes or these with age-related muscle loss and muscle-wasting ailments.
Immunofluorescent picture of human muscle fibers for Myogenesis-ISRO, exhibiting nuclei (blue) and proteins (pink). (Credit score: Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medication, India)
Different experiments embody testing the effectiveness of “wearables,” resembling sensible watches, on spaceflight. A Polish House Company (POLSA)/ESA experiment will examine methods to increase the shelf life of drugs throughout long-duration spaceflights, as their effectiveness might be weakened by cosmic radiation. The examine will hopefully discover methods to increase the lifetime of medicines right here on Earth.
The END-SANS undertaking from HUNOR will take a look at whether or not a contact lens with lively pharmaceutical components may help forestall adjustments in form to the eyes, one thing skilled by most astronauts throughout spaceflight. The precise components might be examined with out a human. Nevertheless, an astronaut will put on the “eye inserts” as soon as a day for at the least 5 days. In the event that they may help stabilize the eyes throughout spaceflight, it may even have important impacts on sufferers on Earth with ailments resembling macular edema.
A full listing of all analysis goals on this flight might be discovered on Axiom’s web site.
(Lead picture: B1094 and C213 vertical at LC-39A forward of the Ax-4 launch. Credit score: Axiom House)
