SpaceX Crew Dragon with 4 Axiom Space astronauts docks with space station
The International Space Station got more international Thursday morning with the arrival of astronauts from three countries making their first visit to the orbiting laboratory aboard the private Axiom Space Ax-4 mission flying on a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Commanding the visiting crew is Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space employee who is making her fifth trip to the station. She's leading India's Shubhanshu Shukla, Poland's Sławosz Uznański and Hungary's Tibor Kapu who will stay on board for about two weeks.
The quartet launched from Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday making a 28-hour approach to the station docking at 6:31 a.m. It's the debut visit for the new Dragon spacecraft named Grace as it docked to the space-facing Zenith side of the Harmony port joining Crew Dragon Endurance that has been docked with the station since its arrival with Crew-10 in March.
"Grace is happy to be on Harmony," said Ax-4 commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space employee who is making her fifth visit to the station.
"We cannot wait to open the hatch and give you guys a hug. We'll see you soon," said NASA's Nichole Ayers, one of the Crew-10 crew that is now part of Expedition 73 from on board the station.
"From Houston, welcome aboard the International Space Station," came the call out from mission control. "It's an honor to have you join our outpost of international cooperation and exploration."
"We are honored to be here," Whitson replied.
The Ax-4 crew made it out of their spacecraft just before 8:30 a.m. welcomed by the seven members of Expedition 73. Welcome remarks are expected at 9:35 a.m. once the hatch is opened and the four Ax-4 crew get on board.
The addition of India, Poland and Hungary grows the number of countries to 26 that have visited the space station, which has hosted continuous crews since November 2000. Since construction first began in 1998, 288 people have now flown to the station.
Axiom Space has been responsible for several countries from that growing list having now flown 14 customers to the station representing 11 countries.
With the four members of Crew-10 as well as three who flew to the station on a Soyuz spacecraft in April, the station now has 11 people on board. That includes three NASA astronauts, three Roscosmos cosmonauts and one JAXA astronaut from Japan.
For Whitson, this is her second visit to the station as an Axiom employee following her three visits as a NASA astronaut. She already held the record for any American and any woman for number of days spent in space, a tally that has now hit 676 and expected to surpass 690 days before the Ax-4 crew returns to Earth.
Before then, the crew is slated to perform more than 60 science and technology experiments for 31 countries.
"You really have to hit the ground running," said fellow former NASA astronaut and Axiom employee Michael López-Alegría, who was on the station during the Ax-1 and Ax-3 missions. "You've got, in this case, 14 days to get a lot of stuff done. Every detail is preprogrammed by the teams on the ground, working with NASA, and we really have an effort to try to maintain that pace."
His advice to the new visitors was to stay focused, but not get overwhelmed.
"You have a huge responsibility. Your family, your colleagues, your space agencies, your nations are really counting on you, but at the same time, try to enjoy it. Try to really soak this in this is generally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
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