NEW DELHI: Axiom-4 crew members, including Shubhanshu Shukla , were welcomed with hugs and drinks as they stepped into the International Space Station on Thursday.
The newly launched spacecraft — the fifth in the Dragon series and named Grace — successfully completed a soft docking with the International Space Station at 16.01 while orbiting above the North Atlantic Ocean.
Also read: Shubhanshu Shukla becomes first Indian to enter International Space Station
"At 6:31 am EDT (4:01 IST) on Thursday, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station for the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4," the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( Nasa ) announced in a statement.
Following the spacecraft’s soft docking, a secure connection — known as hard-mating — was established as 12 sets of hooks locked the two orbiting structures together, enabling communication and power links to be activated. It took around two hours to complete the hatch-opening procedures before the astronauts could enter the space station.
Shubhanshu Shukla has become the second Indian in space, following Rakesh Sharma’s mission in 1984. Joining him on the Axiom-4 mission are Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, the second Polish astronaut since 1978, and Tibor Kapu, the second Hungarian to fly to space after a 45-year gap. The crew launched from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre on Wednesday en route to the International Space Station.
WATCH | #AxiomMission4 crew - Mission Commander Peggy Whitson (US), Mission pilot #ShubhanshuShukla (India) and Mission Specialists Tibor Kapu (Hungary) and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland) enters the International Space Station (ISS).
— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2025
(Video: NASA via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/rIEHgdu277
The newly launched spacecraft — the fifth in the Dragon series and named Grace — successfully completed a soft docking with the International Space Station at 16.01 while orbiting above the North Atlantic Ocean.
Also read: Shubhanshu Shukla becomes first Indian to enter International Space Station
"At 6:31 am EDT (4:01 IST) on Thursday, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station for the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4," the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( Nasa ) announced in a statement.
Following the spacecraft’s soft docking, a secure connection — known as hard-mating — was established as 12 sets of hooks locked the two orbiting structures together, enabling communication and power links to be activated. It took around two hours to complete the hatch-opening procedures before the astronauts could enter the space station.
Shubhanshu Shukla has become the second Indian in space, following Rakesh Sharma’s mission in 1984. Joining him on the Axiom-4 mission are Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, the second Polish astronaut since 1978, and Tibor Kapu, the second Hungarian to fly to space after a 45-year gap. The crew launched from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre on Wednesday en route to the International Space Station.
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