NASA, Axiom Space, SpaceX Mount Fourth Private Spaceflight

The fourth commercial private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4, is targeting launch for 8 am EDT, Wednesday June 11, 2025. The crew includes Peggy Whitson as mission commander, Shubhanshu Shukla as pilot, and mission specialists Suawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

The mission will be supported by SpaceX, who will launch the Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The backup launch opportunity will be Thursday June 12, at 7:37 am EDT. The crew will fly aboard the Dragon spacecraft, which will be the first flight for Dragon for this series of missions.

NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will collaborate on a series of scientific investigations beginning with this mission. They plan to examine muscle regeneration, growth of sprouts and microalgae, survival of aquatic organisms, and human interactions with electronic displays in microgravity.

In all, the crew will perform more than 60 experiments and demonstrations related to human research, Earth observations, and in the life, biological, and materials sciences.

Peggy Whitson is a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space. Shubhanshu Shukla is an astronaut in the Indian space agency ISRO. Uznanski-Wisniewski and Kapu represent the first astronauts from their respective countries to stay aboard the ISS.

The launch will be available to watch on NASA+ for live broadcast at 7:30 am, and on the SpaceX website starting two hours prior to liftoff.

FMI:  www.nasa.gov/