NASA Confirms Crew for Private Axiom Mission 4 to ISS

The mission, called Ax-4 for short, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than this spring, the partners said Wednesday. Arriving at the ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon, the astronauts will spend about two weeks on the orbital laboratory conducting microgravity research and demonstrating new technology.

“As NASA looks toward the future of low-Earth orbit, private astronaut missions help pave the way and expand access to the unique microgravity environment,” said Dana Wiegel, manager of NASA’s ISS program, in a news release.

Commanding the commercial mission will be Peggy Whitson, Axiom’s director of human spaceflight and a former NASA astronaut. Accompanying Whitson will be pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

Ax4 marks the second human spaceflight mission for India, Poland, and Hungary. Shukla, Uznański-Wiśniewski, and Kapu will become the first astronauts from their respective countries to live and work on the ISS.

“Each crewmember brings unique strengths and perspectives, making our mission not just a scientific endeavor, but a testament to human ingenuity and teamwork,” Whitson said.

Axiom agreed to dedicate some of Whitson’s time to NASA science and paid the space agency for mission provisions such as crew supplies and in-orbit resources. In return, NASA offered its full support and covered the cost to train astronauts and use its facilities, for which Axiom will reimburse it.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has also signed on to the mission. Uznański-Wiśniewski, an ESA project astronaut, is assigned to carry out Ignis—a collaborative mission between ESA and Poland comprising 13 experiments that will study space technology, biology, psychology, engineering, medicine, and more.

NASA previously backed Ax-1, the first mission to launch to the ISS with an entirely private crew. On Ax-2, Whitson extended her lead as the NASA astronaut with the most days in space—675, and counting. Ax-3 featured the first all-European commercial astronaut crew. And Ax-4 is expected to reignite the human spaceflight programs of India, Poland, and Hungary, which have remained dormant for decades.

As NASA increasingly turns to private contractors, Axiom is also working with Prada to design the next-generation spacesuits that will be worn by moonwalking astronauts during the Artemis III mission, a lunar landing scheduled for mid-2027.

The firm is also developing the Axiom Station—one of several commercial space stations NASA is exploring as an alternative to the ISS when it is destroyed at the end of the decade. It will launch the first Axiom Station module to the ISS, from which it will detach and fly freely, as early as 2028. The company will continue building it on orbit, launching four more modules that will attach to the first.

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