NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - After multiple failed attempts, Axiom Mission 4, the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, has been launched successfully.
Four-member crew, led by veteran former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, flew to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after the company's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:31 a.m. ET Wednesday.
The spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously dock at approximately 7 a.m. ET Thursday to the space-facing port of the space station's Harmony module, according to NASA.
Peggy Whitson, who is the director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, is the commander of the commercial mission, while Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is serving as pilot. The two mission specialists are European Space Agency project astronaut Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Shubhanshu Shukla, who is a Group Captain in the Indian Air Force, has become only the second Indian to travel to space 41 years after Rakesh Sharma achieved the feat aboard a Russian Soyuz.
Once the Axiom Mission 4 astronauts reach the space station, Expedition 73 crew members will welcome the newcomers.
They are scheduled to conduct microgravity research, educational outreach, and commercial activities for about two weeks, before returning to Earth and splashdown off the coast of California.
NASA said in a statement that its goal is to achieve a strong economy off the Earth where the agency can purchase services as one of many customers to meet its science and research objectives in microgravity.
'NASA's commercial strategy for low Earth orbit provides the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, empowers U.S. industry, and enables the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.'
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