Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary blast off on privately funded ISS trip
The three countries shared the tab for the two-week mission.
Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the deal, put the ticket price at more than 65 million dollars (£47.7 million) per customer.
SpaceX's Falcon rocket blasted off from Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre two weeks late because of space station leak concerns.
The capsule on top carried not only the three newcomers to space – none of whom were alive when their countries' first astronauts launched – but America's most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson.
Besides Ms Whitson, the crew includes India's Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force; Hungary's Tibor Kapu, a mechanical engineer; and Poland's Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, a radiation expert and one of the European Space Agency's project astronauts sometimes pressed into temporary duty.
The astronauts are due to arrive at the orbiting lab the next morning.
In addition to dozens of experiments, the astronauts are flying food that celebrates their heritage: Indian curry and rice with mango nectar; spicy Hungarian paprika paste; and freeze-fried Polish pierogies.
Hungary's first astronaut, Bertalan Farkas, cheered on Mr Kapu from the launch site.
'For such a small country as Hungary, it is really important to collaborate in a peaceful international space co-operation,' Mr Farkas told The Associated Press.
He called it 'one of the most important moments' of his life.
Mr Farkas launched with the Soviets in 1980, taking along a teddy bear in a cosmonaut suit that went back up with Mr Kapu.
India and Poland's original astronauts also launched with the Soviets in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Mr Uznanski-Wisniewski carried up the Polish flag worn on his predecessor's spacesuit, noting that Miroslaw Hermaszewski was his biggest supporter until his death in 2022.
India's first astronaut, Rakesh Sharma, could not make it to Florida for the launch; Mr Shukla said he has been a mentor 'at every step of this journey' and is flying a surprise gift for him.
While others born in India and Hungary have flown in space before – including Nasa astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died aboard the shuttle Columbia in 2003, and two-time space tourist Charles Simonyi, of Microsoft fame – they were US citizens at the time of launch.
Mr Shukla said before the flight that he hopes 'to ignite the curiosity of an entire generation in my country' and drive innovation.
Like his crewmates, he plans several outreach events with those back home.
'I truly believe that even though I, as an individual, am travelling to space, this is the journey of 1.4 billion people,' he said.
It was Axiom's fourth chartered flight to the space station since 2022 and Ms Whitson's second time flying as an Axiom crew commander and chaperone.
The trip caused her to miss her induction into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame late last month, since she was in quarantine before the flight.
Ms Whitson joined Axiom after retiring from Nasa nearly a decade ago and has logged almost two years in orbit over her career.
Once opposed to non-traditional station guests, Nasa now throws out the welcome mat, charging for their food and upkeep while insisting that an experienced astronaut accompany them.
It is all part of Nasa's push to open space – Moon included – to private businesses.
Axiom is among several US companies planning to launch their own space stations in the next few years.
The goal is for them to be up and running before the international station comes down in 2031 after more than three decades of operation.
Access to space 'is not only for the biggest agencies anymore – space is for everyone', Mr Uznanski-Wisniewski said ahead of lift-off.
He repeated the sentiment upon reaching orbit.
Hungarians want to 'sit at the same table with the giants', said Mr Kapu.
Through this mission 'Hungary gets one step closer to the stars'.
They should have flown earlier this year, but their mission was delayed following a switch in SpaceX capsules.
The change enabled Nasa's two stuck astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return to Earth in March sooner than planned.
The Axiom astronauts faced more launch delays once arriving in Florida.
SpaceX had to fix an oxygen leak in its rocket, then Nasa put the crew's visit on indefinite hold while monitoring repairs to longtime air leaks on the Russian side of the space station.
Ax-4 is go for launch! pic.twitter.com/mnGATK01gf
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 25, 2025
Once in orbit, the astronauts radioed messages in their native languages and revealed the name they gave to their brand-new capsule: Grace.
'Good things come to those who wait,' SpaceX told the crew.
'Godspeed to the maiden crew of Grace.'
SpaceX chief executive and founder Elon Musk's Falcon rockets launching from Florida and California are considerably smaller than the Starships making test flights out of Texas and, this year, exploding one after the other.
Reliable frequent flyers, Falcons have been carrying crews to orbit since 2020.
Nasa needs Starship for the Moon, while Mr Musk envisions it for Mars travel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Antarctic ice has grown again – but this does not buck overall melt trend
A new study shows that after decades of rapid decline, the Antarctic ice sheet actually gained mass from 2021 to 2023. This is a reminder that climate change does not follow a smooth path but a jagged one, with many small ups and downs within a larger trend. The research, published in the journal Science China Earth Sciences, showed that while the ice sheet lost an average of 142bn tonnes each year in the 2010s, in the 2021 to 2023 period it gained about 108bn tonnes of ice each year. The study focused on four massive glacier basins and concluded that the increase in the early 2020s was caused by greater snowfall, particularly in eastern Antarctica. Extreme snowfall events, due to the warmer atmosphere holding more moisture, are an expected effect of climate change. But Antarctica has been losing ice since the 1980s, and it would take about 50 years of snowfall at the increased level to get back to previous levels. More recent Nasa data suggests the snowfall trend observed in the report had disappeared by 2025, with precipitation dropping back to pre-2020 levels. As the Chinese researchers note, the pattern of Antarctic ice loss is 'a critical climate warning signal'. The situation is complex, and the process of developing a full understanding continues.
The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Close-up images of The Red Planet's ridges from Mars Rover show ‘dramatic evidence' of water
Close-up images of a region of Mars scientists had previously only seen from orbit have revealed 'dramatic evidence' of where water once flowed on the Red Planet. The new images taken by NASA 's Curiosity Mars rover raises fresh questions about how the Martian surface was changing billions of years ago. Mars once had rivers, lakes, and possibly an ocean, NASA said. Scientists aren't sure why the water eventually dried up, leading the planet to transform into the chilly desert it is today. Curiosity's images show evidence of ancient groundwater crisscrossing low ridges, arranged in what geologists call a boxwork pattern, the space agency said. 'By the time Curiosity's current location formed, the long-lived lakes were gone in Gale Crater, the rover's landing area, but water was still percolating under the surface,' NASA said in a news release. 'The rover found dramatic evidence of that groundwater when it encountered crisscrossing low ridges.' 'The bedrock below these ridges likely formed when groundwater trickling through the rock left behind minerals that accumulated in those cracks and fissures, hardening and becoming cementlike,' the release continued. 'Eons of sandblasting by Martian wind wore away the rock but not the minerals, revealing networks of resistant ridges within.' The rover has been exploring the planet's Mount Sharp since 2014, where the boxwork patterns have been found. Curiosity essentially 'time travels' as it ascends from the oldest to youngest layers, searching for signs of water and environments that could have supported ancient microbial life, NASA explained. 'A big mystery is why the ridges were hardened into these big patterns and why only here,' Curiosity's project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada, said. 'As we drive on, we'll be studying the ridges and mineral cements to make sure our idea of how they formed is on target.' In another clue, scientists observed that the ridges have small fractures filled with the salty mineral calcium sulfate, left behind by groundwater. Curiosity's deputy project scientist, Abigail Fraeman, said it was a 'really surprising' discovery. 'These calcium sulfate veins used to be everywhere, but they more or less disappeared as we climbed higher up Mount Sharp,' Fraeman said. 'The team is excited to figure out why they've returned now.'
The Independent
7 hours ago
- The Independent
The best places to potentially see the Northern Lights this week
Skywatchers in 15 states may be able to see the northern lights this week. The northern lights, which scientists call aurora borealis, are colorful displays that light the night sky. You usually hear about people traveling to Canada or even Iceland to see the lights, but they can also be viewed in the U.S., depending on where you live. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center has shared forecast maps showing 15 northern states from Alaska to Maine where locals may be able to see the aurora borealis Tuesday night and Wednesday night. Most of Washington, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine are predicted to have the northern lights visible. Those in the northern parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire may also view the lights. Alaska residents have the highest likelihood of viewing the colorful display. The northern lights and the southern lights, also known as aurora australis, occur when energetic space particles collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, according to NASA. Auroras can appear in multiple colors from green-blue to purple-pink. The color of an aurora depends on the type of atmospheric gas that is hit and where the gas is located.
