Ax-4 private astronaut mission to the ISS is 'go' for its June 8 SpaceX launch.

The next private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) just completed a major milestone ahead of its upcoming launch.

Houston-based company Axiom Space completed an internal Flight Readiness Review (FRR) on Wednesday (May 21) ahead of the launch of the company's fourth crewed mission to the ISS. Ax-4 is on track for a liftoff next month on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a multinational crew aboard a brand-new Dragon spacecraft. The mission is scheduled to get off the ground on June 8 at 9:11 a.m. EDT (1311 GMT), from Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Wednesday's FRR confirmed that all systems and personnel are "go" for next month's launch, which will be the most research-intensive mission that Axiom has conducted to date. During their roughly 14-day mission, the Ax-4 crewmembers are slated to complete more than 60 science and outreach activities aboard the ISS.

Ax-4 will be led by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. It will be Whitson's fifth orbital spaceflight, and her second for Axiom. The upcoming mission will bring her total tally to nearly 700 days spent off Earth, extending her own American record.

Whitson's crewmates are pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, mission specialist Sławosz Uznański of Poland and the European Space Agency (ESA), and mission specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary.

Ax-4 will mark the first visit to the ISS by astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary, and the first spaceflight for each of these three people. "This is realizing the return to human spaceflight for these countries," said Axiom Chief of Mission Services Allen Flynt during a May 20 press call. Poland, Hungary and India have all had astronauts fly to space before, but never to the space station.

Source: www.space.com

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