SpaceX’s ‘Grace’ Roars to Orbit: Axiom Mission 4 Sends India, Poland & Hungary Back to Space — and Signals the Dawn of a Truly Global Commercial ISS Era
Liftoff occurred at 2:31 a.m. EDT (06:31 UTC) on 25 June 2025 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, and the Falcon 9 booster landed at LZ-1 eight minutes later. Dragon C213, the fifth and final production Crew Dragon, was named Grace by Commander Peggy Whitson moments after orbital insertion. The two‑week Ax‑4 mission carried about 60 experiments for 31 nations, the largest research manifest of any Axiom flight. The multinational crew included Peggy Whitson (USA), Shubhanshu Shukla (India’s first ISS astronaut), Sławosz Uznański‑Wiśniewski (Poland’s first ISS visitor), and Tibor Kapu (Hungary’s first spacefarer in 45 years). Ax‑4 marked