Iowa Astronaut Peggy Whitson and crew en route to space station after overnight launch

Iowa Astronaut Peggy Whitson returned to space this morning as Axiom Mission 4 launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida around 1:31 a.m. Iowa Time Wednesday morning.

The four-person crew from the United States, India, Poland and Hungary is on a 14-day planned mission in which they will conduct about 60 different research activities from 31 different countries. The crew is expected to dock with the International Space Station at approximately 6 a.m. Thursday.

“This mission shows that space exploration is no longer limited to a few nations — it’s a shared effort that reflects the best of what we can achieve together,” said Commander Peggy Whitson, from Beaconsfield, Iowa, in a pre-flight statement. “We launched a message to the world that science, exploration, and unity transcend borders. For me, returning to space is always a privilege. But leading this crew — representing the dreams and determination of India, Poland, and Hungary as they return to human spaceflight — that’s something truly special. We’re carrying the hopes of millions who dare to look up and imagine what’s possible. This is what the future of space looks like — bold, inclusive, and driven by purpose.”

NASA cleared the way for the launch Tuesday after a series of delays from weather to rocket engines to a leak on the International Space Station, NASA has cleared the way for SpaceX to launch the Axiom Space Ax-4 crew on the Space Coast.

The Ax-4 crew is led by commander Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space employee who is making her fifth trip to space, and second time leading an Axiom Space mission. With already 675 days on orbit in the books, she holds the record for any woman and any American for time in space.

She’s taking up three customers whose seats were paid for by countries that have not sent an astronaut into space in more than four decades.

Taking the role of pilot is India’s Shubhanshu Shukla while Sawosz Uznaski of Poland, a European Space Agency project astronaut, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary are mission specialists.

The quartet plan to spend about two weeks on board the space station performing more than 60 experiments, including some partnered with NASA. This marks the fourth trip to the station for Axiom Space.

The launch had been waiting on the OK from NASA because of recent fixes to a years-old leak on the Russian side of the space station. NASA had wanted to ensure pressure remained stable on the aging station that has been continuously populated since November 2000.

SpaceX and Axiom Space had already seen their launch attempts called off earlier this month because of weather and then repairs to the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster.

The private missions to the station are part of Axiom Space’s long-term plans to build out their own space station.

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The mission was originally targeting a 2024 launch but has faced a series of delays including having to give up its originally planned ride, the Crew Dragon Endurance, to NASA’s Crew-10 mission that flew in March.

The tradeoff is the Ax-4 crew will fly on SpaceX’s fifth, and what’s planned to be its final, Crew Dragon capsule. That gives them the traditional honor of naming it once it reaches orbit.

Since its first human spaceflight in 2020, SpaceX has flown its four other Crew Dragon spacecraft 17 times carrying 64 humans to space.

This report was produced by The Gazette and wire news services.