Axiom-4 Mission finally lifts off, India's astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla script history

New Delhi: Set to script history, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others boarded the Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for their sojourn to the International Space Station as part of a commercial mission by Axiom Space on Wednesday. The much-delayed launch of the Axiom-4 mission is set for 12:01 pm IST and SpaceX has announced that the weather for 90 per cent favourable for lift-off. The Lucknow-born Shukla, former NASA astronaut Mission Commander Peggy Whitson, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary are part of the Axiom-4 mission that marks the return to space for the three nations.

Shukla will be the first astronaut to travel to the International Space Station, a journey that comes 41 years after Rakesh Sharma’s eight days in orbit as part of the then Soviet Union's Salyut-7 space station in 1984. The four astronauts boarded the new Dragon spacecraft, which will be on its maiden voyage, placed on top of the Falcon-9 spacecraft of SpaceX, the transport provider for the mission. Earlier, the four astronauts emerged from a month-long quarantine to meet their family members and friends from a distance before moving to board the spacecraft. "Dragon's hatch is closed, all communication and suit checks are complete, the seats are rotated, and the Ax-4 crew is ready for launch," SpaceX announced in a post on X. During the leak checks on the Dragon spacecraft, astronaut Whitson found a fibre during the hatch closing which was cleaned up. The second leak check was also carried out and the side hatch was closed securely. Multiple watch parties have been organised at schools across India, including in Jamshedpur and Shukla's City Montessori School in Lucknow to cheer the astronauts' journey to space.

The Axiom-4 mission was originally planned for lift-off on May 29 and had to be postponed to June 8 as the Dragon spacecraft was not fully ready. The mission had to be postponed due to high winds in the ascent path of the rocket. The launch could not be achieved on June 10 and June 11, when SpaceX, the providers of the launch rocket and the space capsule, detected a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket and due to certain issues in the ageing Russian module of the ISS. The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will travel to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company's Falcon 9 rocket. The targeted docking time is approximately 4.30 pm IST on Thursday, June 26, NASA said in a statement. The launch opportunity comes after NASA and Roscosmos officials discussed the status of the recent repair work in the transfer tunnel at the aft (back) most segment of the orbital laboratory's Zvezda service module, NASA said. "NASA and Roscosmos have a long history of cooperation and collaboration on the International Space Station. This professional working relationship has allowed the agencies to arrive at a shared technical approach and now Axiom Mission 4 launch and docking will proceed," said acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro. As part of a collaboration between NASA and ISRO, Axiom Mission 4 delivers on a commitment highlighted by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station, the NASA statement said. The space agencies are participating in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) demonstrations. Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend about two weeks aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprising science, outreach, and commercial activities.