Axiom Mission 4 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, marking the first time astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary have traveled to space in over four decades. The private mission, assembled by Axiom Space and launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carries crew members representing their nations on a two-week journey to the International Space Station (ISS).
India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, and Hungary’s Tibor Kapu were joined by mission commander Peggy Whitson, a veteran astronaut with 675 days of spaceflight experience. The mission, named “Grace,” honors the cultural and historic legacies of its participants, each carrying symbolic items to commemorate their nations’ earlier space pioneers.
Shukla, an Indian Air Force test pilot, is among the final candidates for India’s Gaganyaan mission, planned for 2027. Poland’s Uznanski-Wisniewski, formerly with CERN, carried a Polish flag from the suit of the late astronaut Miroslaw Hermaszekshi. Kapu brought along a teddy bear worn by Hungary’s first astronaut Bertalan Farkas, who attended the launch.
The mission, co-funded by the governments of India, Poland, and Hungary, follows the legacy of cosmonaut flights from the Soviet era. None of the astronauts aboard “Grace” were born the last time their countries sent representatives into orbit.
National leaders praised the flight. Indian Minister Jitendra Singh called Shukla’s role “crucial.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk celebrated the launch with children in Warsaw, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote, “The sky is the limit.”
The Axiom-4 crew will join NASA, Russian, and Japanese astronauts aboard the ISS and conduct 60 experiments. After 14 days in orbit, the crew will return via splashdown off the U.S. West Coast. Earlier splashdowns near Florida were relocated following a 2024 incident where debris fell in North Carolina.
“Grace is more than a name,” Whitson said from orbit. “It reflects the elegance with which we move through space… and the unmerited favor we carry with humility.”
