At last—success! On Wednesday, 25 June at 08:31 Polish time, the Ax-4 space mission carrying Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski began. He is the second Pole ever to travel into space.
The crew, which includes Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, blasted off into space on Wednesday morning local time.
Forty-three seconds after liftoff, the Falcon 9 engines were shut down. The rocket then passed through the period of maximum dynamic pressure—Max Q—and shortly afterwards broke the sound barrier. Stage-one separation of the Falcon 9 occurred nominally, after which the first stage landed at Cape Canaveral.
A few minutes later, the Dragon capsule with the Ax-4 crew reached orbit and set course for the International Space Station. “This is our mission in the spirit of science, the spirit of peace, and the spirit of humility,” said mission commander Peggy Whitson.
The astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the ISS at about 13:00 Polish time on Thursday.
Mission crew
The Ax-4 crew consists of:
• Peggy Whitson (USA) – commander
• Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland/ESA) – mission specialist
• Shubhanshu Shukla (India) – pilot
• Tibor Kapu (Hungary) – mission specialist
Dr Uznański-Wiśniewski will be the second Pole in space after Mirosław Hermaszewski and the first to visit the ISS.
A Pole on a commercial Axiom Space mission
This is the fourth commercial crewed expedition carried out by the American company Axiom Space. The Polish astronaut’s participation stems from an agreement between the Ministry of Development and Technology and the European Space Agency to prepare and conduct the Polish IGNIS technology-and-science mission on the ISS.
The Polish Space Agency (POLSA) is also involved in the preparations. Thirteen experiments and technologies developed by Polish scientists and companies will be taken to the ISS.