KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — The four-member crew of Axiom Space’s fourth private mission to the International Space Station has docked with the floating laboratory early Thursday morning for a two-week stay.


What You Need To Know


Cmdr. Peggy Whitson, pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu took off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday morning.

After leaving Earth at 2:31 a.m. ET, they docked with the International Space Station’s Harmony module at around 6:32 a.m. ET, Thursday, stated both NASA and Axiom Space.

It was originally supposed to dock at 7 a.m. ET.

"We are honored to be here," Whitson said once the docking was completed.

This is SpaceX's latest and last crewed Dragon capsule named Grace, which was christened by Whitson. 

For retired NASA astronaut and current Axiom Space’s director of Human Spaceflight, this is Whitson second mission to the space station for the Texas-based company.

She was recently inducted into the 2025 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.

For her three male crewmembers who hail from Poland, Hungary and India, it is their first time to be in space. And it is their nations’ first government-sponsored human spaceflight in more than 40 years.

Mission specialist Tibor Kapu, left, pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, Cmdr. Peggy Whitson, and mission specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski are heading to the International Space Station as they plan for a two-week stay as they will be conducting more than 60 experiments. (Axiom Space)

The quartet brought more than 60 experiments, ranging from medical, studying Earth’s upper atmospheric thunderstorms and testing pharmaceutical medicine’s shelf life in space.  

Dr. Lucie Low, Axiom Space’s chief scientist, explained the importance of some of these experiments with Spectrum News.

The Axiom 4 mission saw a number of launch delays, ranging from a technical issue early Wednesday morning to leaks on the ISS.

The Ax-4 crew will spend about two weeks on the ISS until they return home in a splashdown off the coast of California.

Watch the docking 

Anthony Leone - Digital Media Producer

Anthony has a long career as an editor and reporter for newspapers and news websites. He has covered general and breaking news, crime, and politics. In addition, he also covers space and rocket launches, where he has won awards for this coverage.

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