Ax-4 mission departs space station aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon making 1st flight home
Former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space employee Peggy Whitson climbed aboard Crew Dragon Grace early Monday along with customers Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski or Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
They undocked from the station at 7:15 a.m. EDT, and now the quartet have nearly another full day in space before a planned splashdown off the California coast at 5:30 a.m. EDT. Tuesday. They had arrived to the station on June 26 after having launched from Kennedy Space Center one day earlier.
It has been the fourth flight for Axiom Space to visit the station, all with the help of SpaceX, which will be bring home a crewed Dragon spacecraft for the 17th time since 2020, although the first time for this newest Dragon, the fifth in the SpaceX fleet.
'Thank you very much for your support. You guys are amazing.' Whitson said to the space station crew after their departure, her voice audibly shaking, adding shortly later as the Dragon drifted farther away. 'Station looks beautiful.'
For the 65-year-old Whitson, it means she will have surpassed 695 days in space during her career having flown on three NASA missions and two for Axiom Space, all to the space station. She already held the record for most days in space by any American as well as most days for any woman. She was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame just weeks before the launch.
For her three customers, it marks the end of their first spaceflights, and the first time in more than four decades their three countries' governments have sent someone to space.
They joined the seven other crew on board the station for a departure ceremony on Sunday.
'We really enjoyed your company,' said Expedition 73 commander and JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi. 'And thank you so much for bringing a lot of joy, excitement, inspiration and other positive ways to make our experience here even better, and your dedication to science and your professionalism definitely marks a new standard for the private astronaut missions.'
Whitson said the Ax-4 crew enjoyed their 18 days on board, which was four more than originally planned. They conducted more than 60 experiments during their stay, and are bringing home more than 580 pounds of science and hardware.
'It's always great to work with a bunch of professionals, which you are, but it's even more special to work with folks that have become our friends, even more deeply,' she said. 'And we really appreciate the fact that the camaraderie and the teaching that you guys offered to the crew was really exceptional.'
Kapu weighed in on the importance of the mission.
'I think the outcome and the impact of this mission will be much, much greater than the scientific results that we will achieve,' he said. 'So now we will return home, and we will spread the word in our countries that these things are within our reach. These things are possible, even for smaller countries like ours.'
The visit by the Ax-4 crew meant that for a time the space station was represented by six countries from six space agencies from three continents.
'Going back from here, I carry with me a lot of memories and the learnings out of this mission that I would try and spread back,' Shukla said. 'But the one thing that really sticks to me is what humanity is capable of. When all of us come together from different parts of the world and work for a common goal or a common objective, it is truly incredible.'
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