(NewsNation) — A U.S. commercial mission carrying astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary docked at the International Space Station on Thursday, reports said.
The mission marked the first time in decades that those nations have sent a crew to space.
Axiom Mission 4 took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday aboard a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The crew included pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Cmdr. Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut now with Axiom Space, which organizes private spaceflights, was also aboard the spaceship.
“This is an ultimate scientific laboratory where we come to do science, to test the technologies of our countries, to do technology demonstrations and science outreach that I can’t wait to do for the next two weeks,” Uznański-Wisniewski said. “And we will all try to do our best representing our countries.”
The astronauts had not yet been born the last time their countries sent people into orbit; all three nations used Soviet vehicles to reach space before the end of the Cold War.
Poland said it spent 65 million euros on its astronaut’s flight, while Hungary secured a $100 million deal with Axiom in 2022. India has not officially commented on its expenses.
The crew will spend about 14 days aboard the station, conducting approximately 60 experiments. They’ll be examining sprouting salad seeds, microalgae and the hardiness of microscopic tardigrades in space.