Petty Whitson, one of the four astronauts who entered the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Axiom-4 mission, shared a beautiful picture of mother earth on her social media platform, with a caption, 鈥淚鈥檝e missed the view鈥.
I鈥檝e missed this view! #Ax4 pic.twitter.com/BEj1rSE7Yc
鈥 Peggy Whitson (@AstroPeggy) June 27, 2025
Several hours after the Axiom-4 crew entered the ISS and settled in, the seven 鈥淓xpedition 73鈥 crew members helped Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, Slawosz Uznanski and Tibor Kapu otp familiarise themselves with orbital lab systems and prepare for their microgravity research.
According to Axiom Space, the Axiom crew continued adjusting to life in microgravity, and the crew focused on integration with the resident Expedition 73 crew. Together, they completed training on handover protocols and emergency procedures, ensuring seamless coordination. The crew transferred high-priority cargo and emergency equipment between Dragon and the space station.
On Friday, Peggy and the team quickly got to work unloading sample-packed hardware and portable science freezers from inside Dragon for installation in station incubators and research refrigerators ahead of upcoming experiments.
Station safety hardware was also temporarily transferred inside Dragon as is customary for visiting spacecraft.
Post docking, the Axiom-4 crew spent the rest of Thursday setting up their sleeping quarters, with Peggy located in the 鈥楢irlock鈥, Shukla in 鈥楧ragon鈥, Uznanski in 鈥楥olumbus鈥, and Tibor in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM).
The Ax-4 astronauts also began preparing for their research studies. They initiated setup for several experiments and began transferring samples to designated modules.
For Group Captain Shukla, day two at ISS will begin with setting up experiments. His first day was spent setting up his new home by shifting cargo from the Grace capsule to the space station.
Axiom-4 Mission
The Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission is the fourth private astronaut expedition to the International Space Station. It launched from NASA鈥檚 Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket.
The mission is led by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, now with Axiom Space, serving as commander. The international crew includes Slawosz Uznanski from Poland (European Space Agency) and Tibor Kapu from Hungary, both serving as mission specialists. Group Captain Shukla joins them as the mission鈥檚 pilot 鈥 a role of high responsibility and precision.