Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary blast off on a privately funded trip to the space station

Canaveral Cape, Florida – India, Poland and Hungary launched their first astronauts in more than 40 years on Wednesday, sending them to a private flight to the international space station.

The three countries shared the tab for the two -week mission. Axiom Space, the company Houston which organized the agreement, put the price of the ticket to more than $ 65 million per customer.

The Falcon de Spacex rocket took off from NASA Kennedy Space Center two weeks late due to the spatial station’s leakage problems. The top capsule brought not only the three new arrivals in space – none of whom was alive when the first astronauts in their country were launched – but the most experienced astronaut in America, Peggy Whitson.

Besides Whitson, the crew includes Shubhanshu Shubhanshu from India, an Indian Air Force pilot; Tibor Kapu of Hungary, mechanical engineer; And Poland Slawosz Uznanski-Wisnishwski, a radiation expert and one of the astronauts from the European Space Agency project, sometimes pressed in temporary duty.

Astronauts must arrive at the orbit laboratory the next morning.

In addition to dozens of experiences, astronauts steal food that celebrates their heritage: Indian curry and rice with mango nectar; spicy Hungarian paprika paste; and Congular Polish Pisogies.

The first astronaut of Hungary, Bertalan Farkas, applauded Kapu on the launch site.

“For a country as small as Hungary, it is really important to collaborate in peaceful international space cooperation,” Farkas told the Associated Press. He called her “one of the most important moments” in his life.

Farkas was launched with the Soviets in 1980, taking a teddy bear in a cosmonaut costume which went up with Kapu. Astronauts of origin from India and Poland were also launched with the Soviets in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Uznanski-Wisniewski wore the Polish flag carried on the space combination of his predecessor, noting that Miroslaw Hermaszewski was his biggest supporter until his death in 2022. The first astronaut of India, Rakesh Sharma, could not go to Florida for launch; Shukla said he was a mentor “at every stage of this trip” and gave him a surprise gift.

While others born in India and Hungary have already stolen in space – including the NASA astronaut, Kalpana Chawla, who died on the Columbia shuttle in 2003, and the double space tourist Charles Simonyi, from Microsoft Fame – they were American citizens at the time of launch.

Shukla said before the flight he hoped to “ignite the curiosity of an entire generation in my country” and stimulate innovation. Like his teammates, he provides several awareness -raising events with those who are at home.

“I really believe that even if I, as an individual, traveling in space, is the trip of 1.4 billion people,” he said.

It was the fourth Axiom flight to the space station since 2022 and the second time of Whitson as a crew commander Axiom and Chaperon. The trip made her miss his enthronement to the temple of the renown of the American astronaut at the end of last month, because it was in quarantine before the flight. Whitson joined Axiom after his retirement from NASA almost a decade ago and recorded almost two years in orbit during his career.

Once opposed to the guests of the non -traditional station, NASA now throws the welcome carpet, loading their food and their maintenance while insisting that an experienced astronaut accompanies them.

All of this is part of the NASA push to open the space – the included moon – to private companies. Axiom is one of several American companies that plan to launch their own space stations in the coming years. The objective is that they were operational before the international station fell in 2031 after more than three decades of operation.

Access to space “is no longer only for the largest agencies – space is for everyone,” said Uznanski -Wisnishwski in Poland before takeoff. He repeated the feeling by reaching orbit.

The Hungarians want to “sit at the same table with the giants,” said Kapu. Thanks to this mission, “Hungary is close to a step of stars”.

They should have flyed earlier this year, but their mission was delayed as a result of a change in the SpaceX capsules. The change allowed the two NASA astronauts, NASA, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to return to Earth in March earlier than expected.

Axiom astronauts had to make more delays for launching once in Florida. SpaceX had to repair an oxygen leak in its rocket, then NASA put the visit of the indefinite pending crew while monitoring repairs to long -standing air leaks on the Russian side of the space station.

Once in orbit, astronauts have struck messages in their mother tongue and revealed the name they have given to their brand new capsule: Grace.

“Good things come to those waiting,” SpaceX told the crew. “To the Boyen at the crew of the first grace.”

The CEO of SpaceX and the launch of Falcon Rockets of the founder Elon Musk from Florida and California is considerably smaller than the spacecrafts which make test flights from Texas and, this year, exploding one after the other. Frequent reliable leaflets, hawks have been carrying orbit teams since 2020.

NASA needs starship for the moon, while Musk plans for Mars Travel.

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