Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX will provide live, joint coverage of the hatch closure and undocking of the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew from the International Space Station as they begin their journey back to Earth.
Pending favorable weather conditions, the four-person international crew is scheduled to undock from the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module no earlier than Monday, July 14, at 7:05 a.m. ET. The crew will begin their journey home aboard SpaceX Dragon “Grace,” with splashdown off the coast of California.
Mission teams will continue to closely monitor weather conditions at potential splashdown sites to ensure a safe and successful recovery of both the spacecraft and crew.
Coverage of the Ax-4 crew, Dragon’s re-entry, and splashdown will be available on axiom.space/live and SpaceX, beginning about an hour ahead of splashdown. More details will be provided closer to undocking; you can find updates here.
The Ax-4 crewmembers, led by Commander Peggy Whitson of the U.S., includes Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary. For each of these countries, this mission has realized the return to human spaceflight, with all three nations sending astronauts to space for the first time in more than 40 years. Additionally, this marks the first time astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary have conducted a mission on board the International Space Station.
Ax-4 crew return coverage will include three separate segments—hatch closure, undocking, and splashdown. All segments will be available at axiom.space/live.
Hatch closure and undocking coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change):
MONDAY, JULY 14
4:30 a.m. ET – Coverage for hatch closure begins (axiom.space/live, NASA+)
4:55 a.m. ET – Final crew ingress followed by hatch closing
6:45 a.m. ET – Coverage resumes for undocking (axiom.space/live, NASA+, SpaceX)
7:05 a.m. ET – Undocking
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