After a series of delays due to weather, rocket engine issues, and a leak on the International Space Station, NASA has cleared the way for SpaceX to launch the Axiom Space Ax-4 crew from the Space Coast.

The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a new Dragon spacecraft, is scheduled to lift off at 2:31a.m. Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A with four members of the private mission, with a backup launch opportunity at 2:09a.m. Thursday.

The first-stage booster is on its second flight and is targeted to land on the recovery pad at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Landing Zone 1, meaning parts of central Florida could hear one or more sonic booms in the early morning hours.

The Ax-4 crew is led by Commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut now with Axiom Space. This will be her fifth spaceflight and second time leading an Axiom Space mission. She holds the record for the most time in space by a woman and an American, with 675 days in orbit.

She is joined by three passengers, whose seats were paid for by countries that have never sent an astronaut to space in more than four decades.

Serving as pilot is India's Shubhanshu Shukla, while European Space Agency project astronaut Sławosz Uznański from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary are mission specialists.

The four plan to spend about two weeks on the space station conducting more than 60 experiments, including some in collaboration with NASA. This is Axiom Space's fourth trip to the station.

The launch had been waiting for NASA approval due to the recent repair of a multi-year leak on the Russian side of the International Space Station. NASA wanted to ensure the pressure remained stable on the aging station that has been operating since November 2000.

SpaceX and Axiom Space canceled a launch attempt earlier this month due to weather and repairs to the Falcon 9's first-stage booster.

Private space station missions are part of Axiom Space's long-term plan to build its own space station.

The mission was originally planned for launch in 2024 but faced a series of delays, including having to forgo the originally planned vehicle "Crew Dragon Endurance" and instead use the Dragon that launched NASA's Crew-10 mission in March.

The tradeoff is that the Ax-4 crew will fly on SpaceX's fifth and final planned "Dragon" spacecraft. This gives SpaceX the honor of its tradition of naming it after it reaches orbit.

Since its first crewed flight in 2020, SpaceX has flown its other four crewed Dragon spacecraft 17 times, sending 64 astronauts to space.