A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Grace spacecraft was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center on the Axiom Mission 4, or simply Ax-4, mission. After about twelve minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage. It will spend up to 14 days in orbit, almost all of which will be docked at the International Space Station. It also serves commercial purposes in a collaboration between SpaceX, Axiom Space, and various companies and national space agencies to access the Station for the purpose of conducting tasks useful for the development of new technologies and for scientific research.
The four crew members of the Crew Dragon Grace spacecraft are:
Peggy Whitson. This super-veteran of space missions had a distinguished career as a NASA astronaut and later joined Axiom Space. She’s the commander of the mission, her second private mission after Ax-2.
Shubhanshu Shukla. Born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, on October 10, 1985, he’s an officer in the Indian Air Force and has a degree in computer science. After serving as a test pilot, he was selected as a candidate for the Indian astronaut corps. He’s on his first space mission.
Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. Born in Łódź, Poland, on April 12, 1984, he’s an engineer with a doctorate from the University of the Mediterranean Aix-Marseille II and experience working at CERN. In 2022, he was selected as an astronaut candidate by ESA. He’s on his first space mission. His mission was named Ignis.
Tibor Kapu. Born in Vásárosnamény, Hungary, on November 5, 1991, he has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering and has worked in aerospace technology. He was selected as part of the Hungarian program that aims to send astronauts into space.
This mission inaugurated what is planned by SpaceX to be the last Crew Dragon spacecraft to be built. As is tradition, its name is given by the crew after its first launch, so only a little while ago was it announced that the choice fell on the name Grace.
Axiom Space’s missions have commercial implications and offer the possibility of expanding access to space. The astronauts of the Ax-4 mission will spend less than two weeks on the International Space Station, but will still conduct many experiments.
Axiom Space allows nations that aren’t linked to the space agencies that run it to bring astronauts and experiments aboard the International Space Station. There’s a collaboration with NASA and ESA, but many experiments were designed by entities that generally don’t have access to the Station. This expands the possibilities of conducting research that exploits the condition of microgravity.
