SpaceX Vehicle Rockets Off To International Space Station With Astronauts From India, US, Poland, And Hungary

A SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle carrying first-time astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary, alongside U.S. veteran Peggy Whitson, launched towards the International Space Station (ISS) in the early hours of Wednesday.

The mission, organized by Texas-based startup Axiom Space and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, took off at about 2:30 a.m. local time from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The autonomously controlled Crew Dragon is expected to reach the ISS after a flight of about 28 hours, then dock with the research station located 400 kilometers (250 miles) above the Earth.

The fourth mission of private venture Axiom also marked the first use of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, the most reliable vehicle for missions to the ISS. Musk had said he would decommission the program after a public tussle with Donald Trump before backing down on his threats. The launch had already been delayed due to bad weather and a leak at the ISS.

Unless there are any delays, the four astronauts will join the seven already on board by Thursday morning. India’s Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu will all become the first ones from their respective countries to reach space in over four decades.

Whitson, on her fifth spaceflight, is leading the pack. After retiring from NASA in 2018, she became Axiom's consultant and director of human spaceflight. According to a Reuters report, she has already registered a U.S. record of 675 hours during three NASA missions and a fourth flight to space as commander of the Axiom 2 mission in 2023.

Houston-based Axiom has struck several deals with companies and foreign governments to send astronauts into space. The mission is being closely watched in India, where Shukla, a member of the Indian Air Force, is expected to pilot the country’s Gaganyan manned spaceflights.

Retail sentiments about most of the listed U.S. space stocks remain ‘bullish’, as concerns about NASA budget cuts have been offset by higher defense spending globally.

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