Dr. Peggy Annette Whitson will command the upcoming Axiom-4 mission, also referred to as Mission Akash Ganga. This will be a landmark moment for international space collaboration between India and the US.
Dr. Peggy will command the mission in which India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as the mission pilot. Dr. Peggy whois 64 years old brings her experience to the mission. She spent 675 days in space more than any other American astronaut and her career spans over 38 years of experience both with NASA and Axiom Space where she currently serves as Director of Human Spaceflight.
The Ax-4 mission that is being operated by Houston based private space company Axion Space under a commercial contract with NASA will carry a diverse international crew aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. Besides Dr. Peggy and Shukla, the crew includes Slawosz Ulznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
