(Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX will launch four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on the private Ax-4 mission Wednesday morning (June 25), and you can watch the action live.
Ax-4 is scheduled to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday at 2:31 a.m. EDT (0631 GMT). That’s a full two weeks after the missions initial launch date. SpaceX had targeted June 10 but was met with a handful of delays related to high atmospheric winds, a leak detected on the launch vehicle and, most recently, a leak in one of the modules on the International Space Station. The latter have both since been addressed, and the mission given a nod to proceed.
You can watch the launch live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX and Axiom Space, the Houston-based company that organized the mission. The webcast will be at the top of this story, as well as on Space.com’s homepage, when the time comes.
As the mission’s name suggests, Ax-4 will be Axiom Space’s fourth crewed trip to the ISS. Its astronauts will launch aboard a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which will earn its wings on the flight.
Ax-4 is led by commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who is currently Axiom’s director of human spaceflight. Whitson has spent 675 days in space to date, more than any other American.
The mission’s other three crewmembers are pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India; Polish mission specialist Sławosz Uznański of the European Space Agency; and mission specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
These latter three will make history on Ax-4, becoming the first people from their respective countries to launch on a mission to the ISS.
— SpaceX Dragon carrying Ax-3 astronauts splashes down in Atlantic to end longest private spaceflight for Axiom Space
— Axiom Space: Building the off-Earth economy
— Axiom Space eyes the moon while continuing to dream big in Earth orbit
After launch, the crew will spend a little more than a day catching up to the space station. Docking is expected Thursday (June 26), around 7:00 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).
The Ax-4 astronauts will spend about two weeks living and working on the orbiting lab. They’ll conduct 60 scientific experiments during that time — more than any previous Axiom Space mission has performed.
The mission will end with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Ax-4’s return date has not yet been set; it will depend on weather conditions in the splashdown zone.
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
