America’s most experienced astronaut, Iowa native Peggy Whitson, is scheduled to launch Tuesday on her fifth mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Tuesday's launch will mark her second mission with the private firm Axiom Space.
Whitson will command Ax-4 on a two-week expedition to the orbiting station, along with three teammates, all of whom are from different countries. During an Axiom Space news conference, Whitson talked about the historic nature of the flight.
“It has been more than 40 years since the first person from India, Poland and Hungary has been to space. And through this commercial space opportunity, we are accelerating the national space programs in each of these three countries and creating new pathways for technological advancements.”
While Ax-4 marks these countries’ second human spaceflight mission in history, it will be the first time Hungary, India and Poland will execute a mission on board the ISS.
The crew and the mission
Whitson, 65, grew up on a farm in southern Iowa near Beaconsfield. She has already spent 675 days in orbit. She says she has complete confidence in her team of three rookies, adding that they will inspire a generation of new space explorers in their home countries.
“The crew has been training together since August of last year, learning the systems for the International Space Station and Dragon spacecraft, as well as how to respond and address medical and spacecraft emergencies. During this time, I’ve also been doing my best to impart some of my almost-40 years’ worth of space and science experience to these guys.”
This Ax-4 mission is designed to lay the groundwork for what will be called Axiom Station, the first commercial space station, which Whitson says promises to offer a permanent platform for research, manufacturing and human spaceflight.
Whitson says this mission will be packed with science and technology experiments, including one focused on diabetes and insulin-dependent astronauts.
Whitson’s storied career in space
Retired from NASA in 2018, Whitson is now Axiom Space’s director of human spaceflight. She holds the record for the most time spent in space by any American or woman astronaut. She also holds records for the oldest woman spacewalker and the most spacewalks by a woman, with more than 60 cumulative hours of EVA, or extravehicular activity.
The launch of Ax-4 is scheduled for 8:22 a.m. (ET) June 10 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will be aboard a Dragon spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
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This story was updated at 12:55 p.m. June 5 with the updated launch time of the mission.
