SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 7, 2025 The Ax-4 mission is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, June 10, 2025. The 14-day mission will carry four astronauts from four different countries—India, Poland, Hungary, and the US—to the International Space Station (ISS), in a collaborative effort involving Axiom Space, NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Story continues below Advertisement Remove Ad The mission marks a historic moment for India as Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is set to become the first Indian to pilot the Dragon spacecraft and the second Indian in space, nearly four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s iconic 1984 mission aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule. Shukla, who is part of India’s first trained astronaut team, will be accompanied by Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. They will both become the first astronauts from their countries to visit the ISS. Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair will act as Shukla’s backup for the mission. In a pre-launch media briefing, Shukla said, "I carry not just technical equipment but the hopes and dreams of 1.7 billion Indians. I will be conducting seven scientific experiments that could contribute significantly to our understanding of microgravity and pave the way for future space research." Related stories