ISRO-NASA to conduct outreach activities as part of Axiom-4 mission

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will conduct two outreach activities as part of Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission (Ax-4) to the International Space Station (ISS) which is scheduled to be launched on June 8, 2025 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Dana Weigel, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA in virtual mission overview press conference for the upcoming Ax-4 said, “As part of this mission NASA is partnering with the ISRO to host a joint public downlink event to showcase the strength of the international collaboration and our show of commitment to expanding access to space NASA and ISRO will also conduct five joint science investigation in addition to two outreach activities.”

Student events

Further elaborating on the outreach activities Sudeesh Balan, project director, ISRO said that the space agency is planning two student events in which the astronaut would be interacting directly with the student community.

“One activity is a student event where the astronaut would be interacting directly with the student community… We are planning two such events across the country. Apart from that there is an amateur radio link which is an existing tradition in the ISS. There will be an amateur radio contact with the student community… we have identified the students and these activities are currently in progress. We have located two places in India where this will be happening,” he said.

ISRO has already shortlisted seven microgravity research experiments proposed by Indian Principal Investigators (PIs) from various national R&D laboratories and academic institutions for implementation on the ISS.

In addition to this ISRO and NASA will be conducting five more experiments which will mainly be on human research programmes which Group Captain Shukla will be participating in.

Crew members

Apart from Group Captain Shukla who is the pilot of the Ax-4 mission the other four crew members are Commander Peggy Whitson of the U.S., Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Ax-4 crew aboard a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX, said that the teams are currently carrying Dragons final integration campaign. “We expect to transport the Dragon to our hangar next week to be integrated with the rocket for launch,” she said.

Ms. Weigel added that on May 21 the station programme will hold the flight readiness review for this mission.