Florida [US], June 26: The Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, marking several historic firsts in international space collaboration.
The spacecraft docked ahead of schedule at 4:05 PM IST, autonomously attaching to the space-facing port of the ISS's Harmony module. NASA flight engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers supervised the automated docking procedures from aboard the station.
Following docking, the four-member Ax-4 crew was welcomed by the seven astronauts of Expedition 73 and will now undergo a standard safety briefing before beginning their mission activities.
Launched at noon IST on June 25 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Ax-4 crew includes former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, ISRO astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, and ESA astronauts Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. The launch was conducted aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
The mission is scheduled to last approximately two weeks and will involve scientific research, commercial demonstrations, and educational outreach. This mission is particularly notable for sending the first Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) astronaut to the ISS, as well as the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to live aboard the station.
In a live broadcast from aboard the Dragon spacecraft, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, serving as the mission pilot, described the launch experience as “magical.”
“I’m thrilled to be here with my fellow astronauts—what a ride it was,” he said. “As I sat in the capsule 'Grace' on the launchpad yesterday, after 30 days of quarantine, all I could think was: just go. When the launch finally happened, it was something else entirely. You're pushed back into your seat—and then suddenly, there's silence. You're just floating in the vacuum, and it's magical.”
Shukla expressed heartfelt thanks to the entire mission team, calling the flight a “collective achievement.”
“This isn’t just a personal milestone—it’s something that belongs to everyone who made it possible,” he added.
