by Retired astronaut Peggy WhitsonAmerica’s most experienced space plane and three rookie crewmates from India, Poland and Hungary, blew themselves up on one Private -financed flight to the international space station on the early Wednesday-The fourth non-governmental mission, which was installed by the Houston-based Axiom Space.
In a new SpaceX crew kite capsule, which is your maiden flight and the test pilot Shubhanshu Shuckla from India and the Astronaut Swoubhanshu Shuckla, Astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland and Hungarian engineer Tibor Kapu, roared by Pad 39a on 2:31 office.
The fourth flight from Axiom Space to the international space station started with Blastoff from Historic Pad 39a in the Kennedy Space Center. / Credit: Michael Cain/ Spaceflight now
The first stage of Falcon 9 illuminated the sky for miles overnight and loosened the crew dragon from the lower atmosphere along a northeastern trajectory that corresponds to the east coast of the United States.
The booster then fell away and flew back to a basis at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to end his second flight, the 467th recovery of SpaceX, and 64th in Florida.
The Crew Dragon’s SpaceCraft, serial number C213, is the fifth and last supplement to SpaceX’s fleet of Astronaut-Ferry ships, which were built for NASA trips to the space station and for privately financed commercial missions up to low Earth orbit.
The ascent to the orbit went smoothly and the capsule was released to fly alone, about nine and a half minutes after the withdrawal. Whitson then revealed the name of the new spacecraft: Crew Dragon Grace.
“We had an incredible journey uphill, and now we would like to set our course for the international space station on board the latest member of the dragon fleet, our spaceship called Grace.
The Axiom 4 -Crew monitors the cockpit in the newly mentioned crew Dragon Grace when it accelerated on the orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. From left to right: Hungarian engineer Tibor Kapu, test pilot Shubhanshu Shuckla from India, Commandant Peggy Whitson and Astronaut of the European Space Agency Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland. / Credit: SpaceX webcast
Axiom Space offers “private astronaut missions” or pams on a commercial basis to the international space station. As director of the company for human space flight, Whitson, a retired astronaut with three NASA flights, makes her second flight for Axiom Space.
It is not known what the space agencies or governments of their crew paid for their flights, but the Axiom passenger seats for space station are usually sold for around 65 to 70 million US dollars. This covers the costs of almost a year of NASA sanctioned astronaut training, starting and a two-week stay on board the station before returning to Earth with an Ocean Splashdown.
The crew originally hoped to start its mission on June 10, but the flight was stopped off the coast of strong winds and then from work to solve an oxygen leak in the first stage of the first stage of Falcon 9. It was delayed again by RReduced concern about small, but-person-sisted air leaks In a Russian subject on board the space station, in which the AFT -Docking port of the laboratory connects to the Zvezda Service module.
The leakage in the PRK Vestibül was first noticed in 2019 and has been closely monitored since then. The subject is closed unless a Russian spaceship uses this docking port.
NASA has not explained what has led to the latest concern or what was done to solve it, apart from saying that the Russians agreed to reduce the air pressure in the closed PRK compartment to around £ 1.9 per square fold.
This probably ensures that the higher pressure on sea levels in Zvezda and the rest of the station generates a closer seal between the aft bar of the service module and the PRK and isolates it from the rest of the station. However, NASA has not confirmed the reason for the pressure change.
The AX-4 crew that can be seen during the training before the flight (from left to right): Kapu, Shucla, Whitson and Uznański-Wiśniewski. / Credit: SpaceX
Plans for the AX 4 mission
If everything goes well, the Crew Dragon Grace will catch up with the space station after a 28-hour meeting point and get to get to the port at 7 a.m. at 7 a.m. at 7 a.m. for the port or at the station module for the station.
You are greeted by NASA on board Crew 10 Commandant Anne McClain, pilot Nicole Ayers, Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov and Japanese Aviation Takuya Onishi together with Soyuz MS-27 crew members Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zurbritsky and Jonny Kim from NASA.
With a doctorate in biochemistry, the 65 -year Whitson 2018 withdrew after three flights to the NASA space station. In the AX 4 flight, she had passed 675 days in space, including a mission after completing the Axiom Space.
It is the ninth place in the world for cumulative times in space, number 1 in the world among female astronauts and number 1 among the US astronauts.
Peggy Whitson, commander of AX-4, swims during a previous visit to the Multi-Window dome on board the international space station. Whitson is now retired from NASA and is America’s most experienced astronaut with three ISS missions and an earlier Axiom Commercial flight to your loan. / Credit: NASA
As if all of this were not enough, it is also the most experienced space closure of the world – a total seventh of the world – with 10 excursions of a total of 60 hours and 21 minutes. She was the first female and non-military head of the NASA astron car office and served as the first female commander of the international space station.
“I think I’m a little addicted to space,” she said in an interview with CBS News. “I really like to be there, and it is only exciting to live in an environment that is so different from what we have here on Earth. And after I have adapted to this environment, I enjoy sharing my experiences with the rookie flyers who go with me.
“I can take part in her experience of the first time,” she added.
Uznański-Wiśniewski summarized the feelings of his AX 4 crew members and said: “We consider ourselves to be extremely happy to fly with Peggy, the best commander we could have wished.”
The AX 4 mission follows the footsteps of the first three private astronaut missions of Axiom.
Throughout the two-week mission, Whitson and their crewmates will carry out a complete selection of scientific research and technological demonstrations as well as interactive educational events in the home countries of the crew. They were trained for the operation of the space station and will fully exploit the US segment of the orbital laboratory.
“We have a lot of goals for our mission,” said Whitson. “The first is obviously to recognize the return of these three countries to space, but this will be the first time to go to the international space station.
“Obviously, they will have a number of different scientific, technological and pedagogical goals as part of their missions from each of the countries, from India, Poland and Hungary. I will also carry out some research on the axiom space.”
In total, researchers from 31 countries will help to evaluate data from the AX 4 experiments and technological demonstrations. Whitson said the mission “opens up access to countries that normally do not receive access to the room. So this is very exciting.”
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