Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom 4 mission launch today: Full timeline, livestreaming of spaceflight here
After facing multiple delays, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will fly to space on Wednesday with three other astronauts as part of the SpaceX-Axiom-4 mission.
The crew — comprising Peggy Whitson, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, Tibor Kapu of Hungary and Shubhanshu Shukla of India — will travel to the International Space Station on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
The crew will likely reach the ISS around 7 am EDT (4:30 pm IST) on Thursday, June 26 and remain there for up to 14 days.
For ISRO astronaut and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, this Axiom mission lays the groundwork for India’s space roadmap to land an Indian on the Moon by 2040.
Here’s a timeline of the Axiom-4 mission as shared by NASA:
Wednesday, June 25
12:30 am EDT – Axiom Space and SpaceX launch coverage begins. Live coverage of launch and arrival activities of the crew will stream on NASA+ and in social media platforms of Axiom Space and NASA.
1:40 am EDT– NASA joins the launch coverage on NASA+.
2:31 am EDT (12.01 IST): Axiom space mission launches
NASA will end coverage following orbital insertion, which is approximately 15 minutes after launch.
Thursday, June 26
5 am EDT (2:30 pm IST) – Arrival coverage begins on NASA+, Axiom Space, and SpaceX channels.
7 am EDT (4:30 pm IST) – Targeted docking to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
Arrival coverage will continue through hatch opening and welcome remarks.
All times are estimates and could be adjusted based on real-time operations after launch. Follow the space station blog for the most up-to-date operations information.
How much did Axiom mission cost?
All three countries — India, Poland and Hungary – are footing the bill for their astronauts. Hungary announced in 2022 it was paying $100 million for its seat, according to spacenews.com.
India and Poland have not disclosed how much they’re spending. However, news agency PTI reported earlier that the Indian space agency ISRO is spending ₹550 crore on the Axiom-4 mission.
