SpaceX's newest Dragon spacecraft launched on its debut mission this morning (June 25), sending the four-person Ax-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for Houston-based company Axiom Space.
Ax-4's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 2:31 a.m. EDT (0631 GMT) this morning from Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
As is tradition, the crew of a spacecraft's first launch are awarded naming rights. That honor fell to Ax-4 for this new Dragon; the astronauts named it "Grace," which they revealed once they reached the orbit.
Originally slated to launch June 11, the mission has faced two full weeks of delays. High altitude winds postponed Ax-4's first attempt. A leak in the launch vehicle caused another delay, but the most recent, and longest standing holdup of the launch was a leak aboard the ISS.
The station's aftmost module, Zvezda, has experienced an ongoing leak for more than five years now, but has remained stable during that time. Last week, a change in the pressure data that monitors the leak prompted NASA to delay Ax-4 while they monitored the issue. Monday, June 23, NASA announced Ax-4's new launch date, but did not provide a definitive update on the leak.
Ax-4 is commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is currently Axiom's director of human spaceflight. She's joined on the mission by pilot Shubhanshu Shukla and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu.
This is the first spaceflight for the latter trio, who are also the first from their countries— India, Poland and Hungary, respectively — to fly a mission to the ISS. Ax-4 is Whitson's fifth launch to orbit, and will bring her cumulative time spent in space to nearly 700 days, extending her own record as the United States' most-flown astronaut.
The Ax-4 quartet will spend about two weeks aboard the orbiting lab, where they'll conduct more than 60 science experiments and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) outreach events — the highest number on any Axiom mission to date.
Source: www.space.com
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