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🌍 Axiom Mission 4: India Joins Space Station Crew in Historic Launch

🚀 Date: June 25, 2025
📍 Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center, Florida
🛰️ Mission Duration: 14 Days on the International Space Station (ISS)
👨‍🚀 Spacecraft: SpaceX Crew Dragon Grace

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🌟 A New Chapter in Space Exploration

Axiom Mission 4 (Ax‑4) marks a groundbreaking private spaceflight mission to the International Space Station (ISS), organized by Axiom Space in partnership with NASA and SpaceX. This mission is not only about science—it’s about global collaboration, commercial space access, and historic national milestones.

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👨‍🚀 Meet the Ax-4 Crew

Role	Name	Country
Commander	Peggy Whitson	USA
Pilot	Shubhanshu Shukla	India 🇮🇳
Mission Specialist	Sławosz Uznański	Poland 🇵🇱
Mission Specialist	Tibor Kapu	Hungary 🇭🇺

• Shubhanshu Shukla, a former IAF test pilot, becomes the first Indian astronaut aboard the ISS and only the second Indian in space after Rakesh Sharma.
• This mission marks the return of Poland and Hungary to human spaceflight after more than 40 years.

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🧪 What’s Happening in Space?

The Ax‑4 crew will conduct over 60 scientific experiments, including:

• 🧬 Growing food in space: Indian experiments focus on growing methi (fenugreek) and moong dal to support future deep-space missions.
• 🐛 Studying tardigrades: Tiny, super-resilient creatures to understand human survival in microgravity.
• 💪 Muscle health and bone strength research in zero gravity.
• 🔬 Tech and Earth observation experiments from more than 30 countries.

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🚀 Key Mission Highlights

• Launch Time: 12:01 PM IST (June 25)
• Docking to ISS: June 26 at 4:30 PM IST
• Return Date: Mid-July (after 14 days in orbit)
• Spacecraft: Grace, a brand-new Crew Dragon by SpaceX

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📺 How to Watch

Live streaming available on:

• NASA+
• SpaceX YouTube
• Axiom Space Website

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🇮🇳 India’s Big Moment

With Shubhanshu Shukla’s journey, India cements its place in international human spaceflight missions. This milestone paves the way for:

• Gaganyaan, ISRO's upcoming human spaceflight program
• International collaborations in space science
• Next-gen Indian astronauts and tech

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🛰️ Looking Ahead

Axiom’s long-term goal is to build the first private space station. Missions like Ax‑4 are critical steps in proving commercial crews can live, work, and conduct science in space—independent of traditional government-led missions.

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✍️ Follow for More
Stay tuned for updates from space, astronaut diaries, experiment results, and more tech and science news!

📌 Source: NASA, Axiom Space, ISRO, Economic Times, Reuters

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