Please have your boarding pass ready. Destination: the International Space Station.

ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski received a symbolic boarding pass to orbit during a rehearsal ahead of liftoff at the historic Pad 39A in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA.

On launch day, he and the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew will ride the lift that will take them to the boarding bridge leading to a brand-new Dragon spacecraft atop the Falcon 9 rocket. The latest in SpaceX’s fleet of crewed vehicles has improved storage and propulsion systems.

Suited up for the occasion, Sławosz will board the Dragon about an hour before launch. This time allows for final checks, communication tests and seat adjustments.

Flying as mission specialist for Ax-4, the Polish astronaut will have a window seat next to US commander Peggy Whitson. They will share the ride with pilot Shubhanshu Shukla from India and fellow mission specialist Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

Slawosz is the second ESA crew member on a commercial spaceflight with Axiom Space, after Marcus Wandt’s Muninn mission in 2024. The journey to the International Space Station will take around 30 hours. The European mission, called Ignis, will officially begin as soon as Sławosz passes through the hatch and enters the International Space Station.

The ESA astronaut is ready to board. Stay tuned with the latest updates on our X and BlueSky accounts. Watch Sławosz begin his first space travel live on ESA YouTube.

Sponsored by the Polish government and supported by ESA, the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology (MRiT) and the Polish Space Agency (POLSA), the mission features an ambitious programme of technological and scientific research.

Check the Ignis launch kit to learn more about Sławosz and the 13 experiments proposed by Polish companies and institutions that he will carry out in space.