Hyderabad: 

The Ax-4 will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, taking four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), where the crew will be spending 14 days. This will be Axiom Space's fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS and the second commercial spaceflight mission made up of government and ESA-sponsored national astronauts.

 NASA and Axiom Space have announced that the Axiom Mission 4, also known as Ax-4, will be launched by May 2025. This announcement narrows down the timeframe of the commercial mission from the previous window of Spring 2025. The Ax-4 crew includes members from India, Poland, and Hungary, marking each nation's first mission to the space station in history and the second government-sponsored human spaceflight mission in more than 40 years.

Ax-4 Crew:

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland will serve as Mission Specialist alongside Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Uznański will be the second Polish astronaut to fly into space since 1978, and Kapu will be the second national Hungarian astronaut since 1980.

Former NASA astronaut Peggy Witson (Commander), who holds the record for the longest cumulative time in space for an American astronaut, will command the Ax-4, marking her second commercial human spaceflight mission. She will be joined by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla (Pilot), who will be India's second national astronaut to travel to space since 1984.

First Gaganyatri in Space:

Shubhanshu Shukla is a serving officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and has been chosen as an astronaut for India's Gaganyaan Mission alongside Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, and Angad Prathap. Shukla's flight aboard Axiom Mission 4 will make him the first Gaganyatri to reach space.

The experience is expected to be valuable for ISRO, which is planning to launch at least three uncrewed Gaganyaan flights over the course of the year to validate the safety of the hardware before it launches the first crewed Gaganyaan flight in 2026.

Notably, Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, another Gaganyaan member, is part of the Ax-4 backup crew alongside Gyula Cserényi from Hungary.

Axiom Mission 4:

The Axiom Mission 4 aims to serve as an opportunity for India, Poland, and Hungary to advance their national space programs. The mission was originally supposed to launch last year, but it was delayed because of juggling in the schedule to other space flights following the return of Boeing Starliner without a crew. NASA used SpaceX Dragon to bring stranded astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, along with other Crew 9 members Nick Hague and Aleksandr Gorbunov. The Ax-4 is now expected to launch aboard a new SpaceX Dragon.

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