The Ax-4 mission, featuring Polish astronaut Dr Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, to the International Space Station (ISS), according to Axiom Space.
The launch is planned for 8:23 a.m. local time (2:23 p.m. in Poland). The crew will travel aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket departing from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The rocket will carry the Dragon capsule, which will transport the astronauts to the ISS.
This is the second rescheduling of the mission. The original launch date of May 29 was first postponed to June 8, and then rescheduled again.
The delays were due to technical issues with the Dragon capsule.
Ax-4 marks the next commercial crewed mission organized by Axiom Space. The inclusion of a Polish astronaut is the result of an agreement between Poland’s Ministry of Development and Technology and the European Space Agency (ESA) to prepare and carry out the Polish scientific-technical mission IGNIS on the ISS. The Polish Space Agency is also involved as the executive agency of the project.
The Ax-4 crew consists of:
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Peggy Whitson (USA) – Commander
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Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland/ESA) – Mission Specialist
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Shubhanshu Shukla (India) – Pilot
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Tibor Kapu (Hungary) – Mission Specialist
The astronauts are expected to spend 14 days aboard the ISS.
As part of the Polish IGNIS mission, a total of 13 experiments will be conducted in orbit, focusing on medicine, biology, biotechnology, and engineering sciences. The mission will also include scheduled radio communications with Polish amateur radio operators.
Dr Uznański-Wiśniewski will conduct educational demonstrations in microgravity, which will be recorded and later used in educational programs. These will include experiments with Newton’s cradle in weightlessness (demonstrating conservation of momentum and energy) and basic electrical circuits, such as a telegraph key.
Dr Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski is set to become the second Pole in space, following in the footsteps of Mirosław Hermaszewski.
Photo: NASA/Gerelle Q. Dodson
Source:
Nauka w Polsce
