New Delhi: Axiom Space will launch its fourth mission to the International Space Station, carrying Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three others, from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on May 29.
The announcement was made by the Axiom Space at a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
Shukla’s travel to space comes four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s iconic spaceflight onboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.
Besides Shukla, the Ax-4 crew includes members from Poland and Hungary, marking each nation’s first mission to the International Space Station in history and the second government-sponsored human spaceflight mission in over 40 years.
Slawosz Uznanski, European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut, will be the second Polish astronaut since 1978.
Tibor Kapu will be the second national Hungarian astronaut since 1980.
Peggy Whitson will command her second commercial human spaceflight mission, adding to her standing record for the longest cumulative time in space by an American astronaut.
The Ax-4 crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the space station and spend up to 14 days at the orbiting laboratory.
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