BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and travel to the space station.
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Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprised of science, outreach, and commercial activities.
Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is the director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the company’s Ax-4. During a press briefing this afternoon, she said, “That training that we do, not only with the crew but with all our ground teams, is so important for our end goal, which is Axiom Station, which we hope to have as free flier by no later than 2028. So, we’re really looking forward to all those contributions that will seamlessly put us into Axiom Station as a full-up and functional vehicle at that time.”
Whitson will lead an international crew. Indian Space Research Organization astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot.
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The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Uznański-Wiśniewski said, “The change in technology and normalization of access to space isn’t only for the biggest agencies, space is for everyone.
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