4-Nation Army Readies for 2-Week ISS Term

Axiom Space has been hard at work tidying up for its upcoming mission, Ax-4, scheduled to deliver a quartet of astronauts to join Expedition 73 crew aboard the ISS.

The team will be headed up by experienced astronaut Peggy Whitson, taking along a trio of first-timers to the station, Shubhanshu Shukla, Slawosz Uzananski-Wisniewksi, and Tibor Kapu. The Ax-4 team will represent India, Poland, and Hungary in their “return” to spaceflight, launching aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon for a 2-week research mission. Compared to the long-haulers at NASA, Axiom’s team is basically up for a day trip, but things can get pretty packed aboard the cramped confines of the International Space Station.

The Axiom team won’t be twiddling their thumbs for a couple weeks, since each nation has sent its emissary up with something to occupy their time. Shukla will work on the Indian Gaganyaan initiative, the nation’s crewed space program, by working on “studies of cognitive effects of screen use, microbial adaptation, muscle atrophy, and crop resilience in microgravity.”

Uzananski-Wisniewksi, of the Polish Space Agency will spend his time with some computing equipment, assessing how much on-board, on-station data processing can be done. Of course, it will be using ‘AI’ gear, as one expects in 2025, but it could ultimately help to minimize the need for ISS crews to send out their data to Earth whenever they need some numbers crunched.

There’s less than a week to go, so things are moving quickly for Axiom. If successful, the mission will further prove the ability for private companies to do their own space missions and research, without NASA having to hold their hand every step of the way. While they’re at it, Axiom will give a shot in the arm to some space programs in countries seldom seen in the industry, to boot.

FMI: www.axiomspace.com