Axiom-4 Lifts Off ! Shubhanshu Shukla And Crew Begins Journey To ISS (image screen grab: x.com/SpaceX)
Axiom-4 Mission Launch: After multiple delays, the much awaited Axiom-4 mission,or Ax-4, piloted by Indian astronaut and IAF officer Shubhanshu Shukla, launched today, June 25 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 2:31 am (6:31 am GMT, 12:01 pm IST).
Along with Captain Shukla, the spacecraft carries three other crew members – Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, and commander Peggy Whitson of the United States. The crew will travel to the ISS on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and is scheduled to dock with the orbital lab on Thursday at approximately 11:00 am GMT and spend there for up to 14 days.
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“All systems are looking good for Wednesday’s launch of @Axiom_Space’s Ax-4 mission to the @Space_Station and weather is 90% favorable for liftoff. Webcast starts at 12:30 a.m,”
All systems are looking good for Wednesday’s launch of @Axiom_Space’s Ax-4 mission to the @Space_Station and weather is 90% favorable for liftoff. Webcast starts at 12:30 a.m. ET → https://t.co/6RXoybzInV pic.twitter.com/988o685PVF
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 24, 2025
This is the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, facilitated by NASA and operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s Axiom Mission 4 using Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX for launch. Axiom-4 has experienced several difficulties before due to poor weather conditions, leaks discovered on SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket, and problem with the Russian module of the International Space Station.
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Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force pilot is the second Indian to travel to space after Rakesh Sharma, in 1984, and the first Indian to reach the ISS. Shukla was included in the astronaut selection process in 2019 by the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), an organization under IAF for the Indian Human Spacflight Programme. Later, he was shortlisted in the final four by IAM and ISRO.
