First pictures of Dragon spacecraft that Shubhanshu Shukla will pilot to space
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) is ready.The spacecraft that will carry four Ax-4 astronauts and return them to Earth arrived at the hangar at pad 39A in Florida ahead of its first flight.The newly developed spacecraft will launch on its maiden voyage to space with astronauts from the US, India, Poland and Hungry as part of a private mission being led by Axiom Space.
Dragon arrives at the hangar at pad 39A in Florida ahead of its first flight. (Phot0: SpaceX)
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The Dragon spacecraft will launch on June 10 from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to space aboard SpaceX reusable Falcon-9 rocket that will return to Earth after delivering the vehicle in orbit.Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will be piloting the spacecraft and has been trained for the mission by SpaceX and Axiom Space. He will be responsible for supervising the launch and docking operations of the vehicle, which is completely autonomous and does not require human intervention.The spacecraft was brought to the Nasa launch pad by SpaceX, just hours before the dramatic spat between US President Donald Trump and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, who were earlier close allies.The dispute escalated after Musk publicly criticised a key spending bill backed by the Trump administration, calling it an 'abomination'. Trump responded on his social media platform by suggesting that axing Musk's government contracts would save the US billions, and questioned why such action hadn't already been taken..@NASA, @Axiom_Space, and @SpaceX are targeting 8:22 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, June 10, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the @Space_Station, Axiom Mission 4.The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at @NASAKennedy in Florida. The crew will travel to the pic.twitter.com/FJHT9pXO9m— NASA Space Operations (@NASASpaceOps) June 4, 2025advertisementIn a swift reaction, Musk declared on X, "In light of the President's statement about the cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately".Musk's announcement raises concerns over the fate of the Ax-4 mission, which has been postponed twice due to other factors, from May 29 to June 8 and then to June 10.The SpaceX founder, however, took back his decision in reply to an X post and said, "Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon".Must Watch
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