About the mission
Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) was a private crewed spaceflight to the International Space Station
(ISS) operated by Axiom Space in collaboration with SpaceX and NASA. The mission was set in
motion atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, which placed the Crew Dragon Grace
spacecraft into low Earth orbit. This was the maiden flight of Grace (C213), and the fifth Crew
Dragon capsule that has been built.
The launch was originally scheduled to happen on June 11, 2025, from Launch Complex 39A at
the Kennedy Space Centre, but was abandoned due to a liquid oxygen leak. A separate leak in
the ISS’s Zvezda module caused another two-week launch delay. Finally, the mission was
launched on June 25,2025 for an 18-day stay at the ISS before undocking and splashing down
in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on July 15,2025.
About the Crew
The four-person crew consisted of commander Peggy Whitson, an Axiom Space employee and
former NASA astronaut; pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO); and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, a European Space Agency
(ESA) project astronaut from Poland, and Tibor Kapu, from the Hungarian Space Office.
The mission represented the first state-sponsored human spaceflight in more than four decades
for India, Hungary and Poland, marking only their second chance overall. Earlier, each of these
nations had sent a single astronaut into space through the Soviet Union’s Interkosmos program.
Unlike those missions, which involved docking with the Salyut 6 or Salyut 7 space stations, this
mission Ax-4, was the first ever government-based initiative from any of the three countries to
reach the International Space Station (ISS). Remarkably, Shubhanshu Shukla became the first
astronaut from India’s official space program to journey into space.
Gaganyaan
The Axe-4 mission marks an important step forward for India’s Human Spaceflight Programme
and complements ISRO’s Gaganyaan project. Although Gaganyaan is India’s own crewed
space initiative, Axe-4 offers the first chance for an Indian astronaut, Shubhanshu Shukla, to
participate in a commercial spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS). During this
mission, Shukla carried out experiments outlined by ISRO and Indian research bodies, primarily
focusing on areas such as the cognitive effects of screen exposure, microbial behaviour in
space, muscle degradation, and crop strength under microgravity conditions.
ISRO highlighted that the mission provided valuable hands-on experience in crucial aspects,
including coordination among astronauts and ground teams, real-time health monitoring,
psychological and medical training, integration with international crew members, and managing
scientific tasks in space. This experience is expected to directly contribute to increasing
astronaut training, upgrading safety protocols, and refining mission planning for future
endeavours under India’s Human Spaceflight Programme.
Experiments conducted under the mission:
- Space Microalgae (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) & National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), India) - Effect of Microgravity and Radiation in ISS on edible microalgae.
- Myogenesis (The Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (InStem), India) - Impact of metabolic supplements on muscle regeneration under microgravity.
- Seed sprouting (University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad & Indian Institute of Technology, Dharwad) - To examine the growth and development of plants in the different environment of space.
- Voyager Tardigrade (Indian Institute of Science (IISc))- To investigate the resilience and adaptability of these extremophile organisms under microgravity.
- Cyanobacteria Research (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB)) - To explore the comparative growth and proteomics responses of cyanobacteria on urea and nitrate in microgravity.
- Food Crop Seeds in Microgravity (Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology & Kerala Agricultural University) - To understand the effect of microgravity on growth and yield parameters in food crop seeds.