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By NASA
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying the Axiom Mission 3 crew is pictured approaching the International Space Station on Jan. 20, 2024.Credit: NASA NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are targeting 8:22 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, June 10, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4.
The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will travel to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. The targeted docking time is approximately 12:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 11.
NASA will stream live coverage of launch and arrival activities on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms, including social media.
NASA’s mission responsibility is for integrated operations, which begins during the spacecraft’s approach to the space station, continues during the crew’s approximately two-week stay aboard the orbiting laboratory while conducting science, education, and commercial activities, and concludes once the spacecraft exits the station.
Peggy Whitson, former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the commercial mission, while ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot. The two mission specialists are ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
As part of a collaboration between NASA and ISRO, Axiom Mission 4 delivers on a commitment highlighted by President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station. The space agencies are participating in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit science, technology, engineering, and mathematics demonstrations. NASA and ISRO have a long-standing relationship built on a shared vision to advance scientific knowledge and expand space collaboration.
The private mission also carries the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to stay aboard the space station.
NASA will join the mission prelaunch teleconference hosted by Axiom Space (no earlier than one hour after completion of the Launch Readiness Review) at 6 p.m., Monday, June 9, with the following participants:
Dana Weigel, manager, International Space Station Program, NASA Allen Flynt, chief of mission services, Axiom Space William Gerstenmaier, vice president, Build and Flight Reliability, SpaceX Arlena Moses, launch weather officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force To join the teleconference, media must register with Axiom Space by 12 p.m., Sunday, June 8, at:
https://bit.ly/4krAQHK
NASA’s mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
Tuesday, June 10
6:15 a.m. – Axiom Space and SpaceX launch coverage begins.
7:25 a.m. – NASA joins the launch coverage on NASA+.
8:22 a.m. – Launch
NASA will end coverage following orbital insertion, which is approximately 15 minutes after launch. As it is a commercial launch, NASA will not provide a clean launch feed on its channels.
Wednesday, June 11
10:30 a.m. – Arrival coverage begins on NASA+, Axiom Space, and SpaceX channels.
12:30 p.m. – Targeted docking to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.
Arrival coverage will continue through hatch opening and welcome remarks.
All times are estimates and could be adjusted based on real-time operations after launch. Follow the space station blog for the most up-to-date operations information.
The International Space Station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy. NASA’s goal is to achieve a strong economy off the Earth where the agency can purchase services as one of many customers to meet its science and research objectives in microgravity. NASA’s commercial strategy for low Earth orbit provides the government with reliable and safe services at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars while also continuing to use low Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.
Learn more about NASA’s commercial space strategy at:
https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-space
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Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Anna Schneider
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jun 04, 2025 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Private Astronaut Missions Commercial Space Humans in Space International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research Johnson Space Center Kennedy Space Center View the full article
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By NASA
The core portion of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has successfully completed vibration testing, ensuring it will withstand the extreme shaking experienced during launch. Passing this key milestone brings Roman one step closer to helping answer essential questions about the role of dark energy and other cosmic mysteries.
“The test could be considered as powerful as a pretty severe earthquake, but there are key differences,” said Cory Powell, the Roman lead structural analyst at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Unlike an earthquake, we sweep through our frequencies one at a time, starting with very low-level amplitudes and gradually increasing them while we check everything along the way. It’s a very complicated process that takes extraordinary effort to do safely and efficiently.”
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This video shows the core components of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope undergoing a vibration test at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The test ensures this segment of the observatory will withstand the extreme shaking associated with launch. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The team simulated launch conditions as closely as possible. “We performed the test in a flight-powered configuration and filled the propulsion tanks with approximately 295 gallons of deionized water to simulate the propellent loading on the spacecraft during launch,” said Joel Proebstle, who led this test, at NASA Goddard. This is part of a series of tests that ratchet up to 125 percent of the forces the observatory will experience.
This milestone is the latest in a period of intensive testing for the nearly complete Roman Space Telescope, with many major parts coming together and running through assessments in rapid succession. Roman currently consists of two major assemblies: the inner, core portion (telescope, instrument carrier, two instruments, and spacecraft) and the outer portion (outer barrel assembly, solar array sun shield, and deployable aperture cover).
Now, having completed vibration testing, the core portion will return to the large clean room at Goddard for post-test inspections. They’ll confirm that everything remains properly aligned and the high-gain antenna can deploy. The next major assessment for the core portion will involve additional tests of the electronics, followed by a thermal vacuum test to ensure the system will operate as planned in the harsh space environment.
This video highlights some of the important hardware milestones as NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope moves closer to completion. The observatory is almost fully assembled, currently built up into two large pieces: the inner portion (telescope, instrument carrier, two instruments, and spacecraft) and outer portion (outer barrel assembly, solar array sun shield, and deployable aperture cover). This video shows the testing these segments have undergone between February and May 2025. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center In the meantime, Goddard technicians are also working on Roman’s outer portion. They installed the test solar array sun shield, and this segment then underwent its own thermal vacuum test, verifying it will control temperatures properly in the vacuum of space. Now, technicians are installing the flight solar panels to this outer part of the observatory.
The team is on track to connect Roman’s two major assemblies in November, resulting in a whole observatory by the end of the year that will then undergo final tests. Roman remains on schedule for launch by May 2027, with the team aiming for as early as fall 2026.
Click here to virtually tour an interactive version of the telescope The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with participation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California; Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore; and a science team comprising scientists from various research institutions. The primary industrial partners are BAE Systems Inc. in Boulder, Colorado; L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York; and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging in Thousand Oaks, California.
By Ashley Balzer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated Jun 04, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
NASA’s RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) undergoes testing to extract simulated regolith, or the loose, fragmental material on the Moon’s surface, inside of the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations Lab at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on May 27. Ben Burdess, mechanical engineer at NASA Kennedy, observes RASSOR’s counterrotating drums digging up the lunar dust and creating a three-foot berm.
The opposing motion of the drums helps RASSOR grip the surface in low-gravity environments like the Moon or Mars. With this unique capability, RASSOR can traverse the rough surface to dig, load, haul, and dump regolith that could later be broken down into hydrogen, oxygen, or water, resources critical for sustaining human presence.
The primary objective was testing the bucket drums that will be used on NASA’s IPEx (In-Situ Resource Utilization Pilot Excavator). The RASSOR robot represents an earlier generation technology that informed the development of IPEx, serving as a precursor and foundational platform for the advanced excavation systems and autonomous capabilities now being demonstrated by this Moon-mining robot.
Image credit: NASA/Frank Michaux
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Researchers look at a bend that occurred in the 94-foot triangular, rollable and collapsible boom during an off-axis compression test.NASA/David C. Bowman Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, have developed a technique to test long, flexible, composite booms for use in space in such a way that gravity helps, rather than hinders, the process. During a recent test campaign inside a 100-foot tower at a NASA Langley lab, researchers suspended a 94-foot triangular, rollable, and collapsible boom manufactured by Florida-based aerospace company, Redwire, and applied different forces to the boom to see how it would respond.
Having a facility tall enough to accommodate vertical testing is advantageous because horizontal tests require extra equipment to keep gravity from bending the long booms, but this extra equipment in turn affects how the boom responds. These mechanical tests are important because NASA and commercial space partners could use long composite booms for several functions including deployable solar sails and deployable structures, such as towers for solar panels, that could support humans living and working on the Moon.
Redwire will be able to compare the results of the physical testing at NASA Langley to their own numerical models and get a better understanding of their hardware. NASA’s Game Changing Development program in the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate funded the tests.
Researchers conducted the tests inside a 100-foot tower at NASA Langley.NASA/Mark Knopp Share
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By Space Force
An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched during operational test Glory Trip 253: An operational test designed to verify the accuracy and reliability of the United States’ land-based nuclear deterrent.
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