The motorboat of Axiom-4 ngo carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to the International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed to June 11 owed to upwind conditions, the ISRO said connected Monday. Originally scheduled for June 10, the mission’s backup day was already acceptable arsenic June 11 by Axiom Space.
Advertisement
Dr V Narayanan, Chairman, ISRO, said, “Due to upwind conditions, the Axiom-4 Mission launching Indian astronaut to the ISS is rescheduled from June 10 to June 11 with a targeted motorboat clip of 5.30 p.m. IST.”
With its launch, India volition erstwhile again marque its people successful quality spaceflight aft 41 years. Group Capt Shukla volition beryllium the country’s 2nd astronaut to task into space. He volition besides make past arsenic the archetypal Indian to sojourn and behaviour probe aboard the ISS.
The ngo unit volition motorboat aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, with Shukla serving arsenic ngo aviator connected the Axiom-4. He volition beryllium joined by commandant Peggy Whitson (US, erstwhile NASA astronaut), ngo specializer Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland/ESA) and ngo specializer Tibor Kapu (Hungary/ESA).
Ahead of the launch, the unit completed a afloat rehearsal of motorboat time activities. The Axiom-4 ngo volition assistance disconnected from Launch Complex 39A astatine NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre successful Florida. During their 14-day stay, the astronauts volition behaviour microgravity research, exertion demonstrations and outreach events.
Shukla’s information underscores India’s increasing ambitions successful abstraction exploration. His acquisition volition beryllium important for India’s upcoming Gaganyaan mission, with insights from microgravity adaptation and ISS experiments aiding the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The bureau has spent Rs 550 crore successful collaboration with Axiom Space to behaviour probe aboard the ISS.
The Axiom-4 ngo features astir 60 technological studies and activities involving 31 countries, including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the UAE and aggregate European nations.
In a statement, Axiom said, “This ngo volition big the astir research-related activities conducted connected an Axiom ngo to date, underscoring its planetary value and collaborative attack to advancing microgravity probe successful low-Earth orbit. The ngo emphasises technological contributions from the US, India, Poland and Hungary, aiming to grow information by engaging divers stakeholders and promoting planetary practice successful abstraction research.”
India volition behaviour respective experiments, immoderate successful concern with NASA. These experiments, developed done a collaboration betwixt ISRO and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), with NASA’s support, absorption connected pioneering abstraction nutrition and self-sustaining beingness enactment systems indispensable for long-duration abstraction travel. One cardinal experimentation volition analyse the effects of microgravity and abstraction radiation connected edible microalgae, a nutrient-rich nutrient source. Researchers volition analyse maturation parameters and changes successful transcriptomes, proteomes, and metabolomes of algal taxon successful abstraction compared to Earth.
This ngo marks the 4th Axiom formation to the ISS and the archetypal specified task for India, Hungary and Poland. Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the ngo was a arrogant planetary designation of India’s abstraction capabilities and a tribute to the nation’s abstraction pioneers Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan.
English (US) ·