The fourth mission by the company Axiom Space will help the three countries get to the International Space Station for the first time.
Four astronauts are set to embark on a private mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday morning in what would be the fourth such flight by Axiom Space.
The company, based in Houston, has catered to wealthy space tourists in the past. But it has also become a key player in a new era of government-sponsored space travel — one in which countries can pay private entities to transport astronauts, rather than having to build their own rockets.
The customers flying on this mission, known as Axiom-4, are poised to make history for their countries: Hungary, India and Poland. These nations have never sent astronauts to the International Space Station before.
The flight has taken on special importance in India, whose government plans to launch a crewed spaceflight of its own in the next few years. That effort is likely to involve the Indian astronaut Capt. Shubhanshu Shukla, the pilot of the Axiom-4 mission.
When is the launch, and how can I watch it?
The launch is scheduled to take place at 2:31 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
The crew will ride in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. It will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA will provide video coverage of the flight on its website, or you can watch the countdown starting at 12:30 a.m. Eastern time on Axiom’s YouTube channel.