Joining Whitson are first-time fliers Shubhanshu Shukla from India, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. The mission brings a return to human spaceflight for these three countries, as in over 40 years the countries have not seen a government-sponsored astronaut.

NASA has announced a new launch date for the private Axiom astronaut launch to the ISS, following delays due to leaks aboard the space station.