A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Grace spacecraft concluded its Ax-4 mission by splashing down without problems. On board were Shubhanshu Shukla, Peggy Whitson, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Tibor Kapu, who ended this completely private space mission in the Atlantic Ocean after leaving the International Space Station almost 48 hours earlier. Shortly after splashing down, SpaceX’s recovery ship went to retrieve the Grace and its crew to transport them to the coast.
Launched on June 25 and arrived at the International Space Station the next day, it’s a private mission set up in a collaboration between SpaceX and Axiom Space, and for this reason, called Axiom Mission 4 or simply Ax-4. It was the third that had as its purpose the use of the Station to conduct experiments, also for commercial purposes.
NASA is collaborating with Axiom Space and SpaceX on these missions as part of a program of progressively opening up to private companies taking on increasingly important roles in space missions. ESA was once again a key partner with Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, who completed the Ignis mission, which included various experiments.
For the Indian space agency ISRO, having astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla on the Ax-4 mission crew offered the opportunity to conduct medical experiments useful for the national space program. Rivalry with China has spurred the development of projects that include astronauts, but ISRO is just starting out in this area, so any data collected directly, without relying on the experiences of other nations, is precious.
Axiom Space programs are “fluid,” as they depend on many factors. The next mission, referred to as Axiom Mission 5 or Ax-5, is scheduled to be conducted no earlier than May 2026 but it’s easy for the date to slip even by months, given that it’s necessary to coordinate the work of different entities in various countries.
For now, the Grace’s crew members will undergo medical tests like all astronauts. More than 250 lbs of various experiments were brought back to Earth and will be analyzed in depth in the laboratories of the various organizations and companies that designed them.
