Ax-4 crew completes NASA training ahead of ISS mission launch in May

Marking another milestone on their journey to the International Space Station (ISS), the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew — which includes Indian Air Force officer Sudhanshu Shukla — has completed NASA training.

Since August 2024, the Ax-4 team — Commander Peggy Whitson (USA), Mission Pilot Sudhanshu Shukla (India), Mission Specialist Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu (Hungary) — trained at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, with a focus on space station operations.

Their preparation combined classroom instruction, simulator exercises and full-team scenarios conducted in realistic mockups of ISS modules. The training covered everything from payload operations to emergency protocols, ensuring the crew is fully equipped to live and work in microgravity and meet their mission’s objectives.

With NASA training complete, the Ax-4 crew now enters final preparations ahead of their scheduled launch in May. Once aboard the ISS, the crew will conduct a wide range of experiments and demonstrations that leverage microgravity to advance scientific research with implications for Earth.

The mission’s research portfolio includes 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries — including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the UAE and nations across Europe.

Ax-4 will feature the most research and science-related activity of any Axiom mission to date, underscoring its global significance and collaborative focus on expanding microgravity research in low-Earth orbit.

India