Axiom Space Inc sent a crew of astronauts from four nations to the International Space Station, a mission signaling the Texas-based company’s ambitions to work with countries to expand global access to space.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at about 2:31 am local time on Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission marks Axiom’s fourth crewed mission into low-Earth orbit and the first time astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary will go to the ISS.

NASA, Axiom and SpaceX had delayed the launch several times due to problems including bad weather near the launch site and a leak on the ISS.

American astronaut Peggy Whitson, who retired from NASA in 2018 and is now Axiom’s director of human spaceflight, is commanding Wednesday’s flight in her fifth mission to the ISS. Other crew members include pilot Shubhanshu Shukla from the Indian Air Force and mission specialists Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

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The launch comes as Axiom plans to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding with India-based rocket startup Skyroot Aerospace to explore its ability to provide launch and cargo services. Axiom expects the new partnership to expand its engineering capabilities as the company starts to build a private space station, Chief Executive Officer Tejpaul Bhatia told Bloomberg News.

“As the market grows and the capability grows, we are choosing best of breed partners for all of our needs,” Bhatia said.

Axiom signed in February a memorandum with Hungarian telecommunications company 4iG to outline collaboration in the space industry and signed a similar agreement with the Egyptian Space Agency last month. In 2023, Axiom announced a partnership with Italian fashion company Prada to produce spacesuits for NASA’s Artemis III moon mission.