![\"Axiom](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/ax-2-commander-peggy-whitson-enters-the-space-station-52933010253-o.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) has been given the \u201cgo\u201d to launch at 2:31 a.m. EDT on Wednesday<\/a> from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station<\/a>. The four Ax-4 private astronauts will ride the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft to low Earth orbit and dock to the orbital outpost\u2019s space-facing port on the Harmony module<\/a> at 7 a.m. on Thursday for a two-week research mission.<\/p>\n Expedition 73<\/a> Flight Engineers Anne McClain<\/a> and Nichole Ayers<\/a>, both from NASA, will be on duty Thursday monitoring Dragon during its automated approach and rendezvous. Less than two hours after Dragon docks, the hatches will open and the Ax-4 crew will enter the space station including Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, and Mission Specialists S\u0142awosz Uzna\u0144ski-Wi\u015bniewski and Tibor Kapu. The Ax-4 private astronauts will greet the seven Expedition 73 crewmates, call down to Earth for welcoming remarks, then participate in a safety briefing with the station residents.<\/p>\n Back onboard the orbiting lab on Tuesday, the four astronauts and three cosmonauts stayed focused on a host of space research to advance pharmaceutical manufacturing and biotechnology. The crew members also continued their video and photography operations documenting life on the space station and imaging Earth landmarks.<\/p>\n Ayers kept up her dayslong scientific work in the Destiny laboratory module<\/a> swapping syringes filled with protein samples and installing test cells in the Microgravity Science Glovebox<\/a>. The fluid physics study<\/a> is investigating using surface tension rather than a container to observe the behavior of proteins in a liquid. Results may inform pharmaceutical manufacturing techniques and 3D printing in microgravity.<\/p>\n Ayers also joined NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim<\/a> and filmed a variety of activities the crew performs throughout its shift. The duo first recorded a tour of the Tranquility module<\/a>, the cupola<\/a>, and the Permanent Multipurpose Module<\/a>. They also filmed how a crew starts its shift, safety procedures, and typical administrative duties. The videos will be downlinked to mission controllers to train future station crews.<\/p>\n McClain began her shift in the Columbus laboratory module<\/a> and activated the Bio-Analyzer<\/a> used for cellular and molecular analysis in weightlessness. Afterward, McClain tagged hardware throughout the station\u2019s U.S. segment with radio frequency identification gear to ensure easier inventory tracking.<\/p>\n Station Commander Takuya Onishi from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) started his shift in the Kibo laboratory module<\/a> removing and replacing electronics hardware that controls payloads. Next, he set up biomedical hardware<\/a> that will be used on Wednesday to monitor and prevent space-caused fluid shifts in an astronaut\u2019s body.<\/p>\n Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritskiy joined each other Tuesday and took turns wearing sensors and a blood pressure cuff measuring how blood flows from the largest vessels to the smallest vessels in microgravity. Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov wrapped up a session in the Zvezda service module<\/a> photographing landmarks across the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Next, Peskov transferred fluids from the station into the Progress 90<\/a> cargo craft then serviced ventilation systems inside the Nauka science module<\/a>.<\/p>\n Learn more about station activities by following the <\/em>space station blog<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>@space_station<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>@ISS_Research<\/em><\/a> on X, as well as the <\/em>ISS Facebook<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>ISS Instagram<\/em><\/a> accounts.<\/em><\/p>\n Get the latest from NASA delivered every week. <\/em>Subscribe here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Get The Details…<\/a><\/p>\n Mark A. Garcia <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) has been given the \u201cgo\u201d to launch at 2:31 a.m. EDT on Wednesday from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station. The four Ax-4 private astronauts will ride the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft to low Earth orbit and dock to the orbital outpost\u2019s space-facing port on the Harmony module at 7 a.m. on Thursday for a two-week research mission. Continue reading