Shubhanshu Shukla set to become first Indian to fly to ISS on May 29

Indian Air Force's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is set to make history on May 29 as the first Indian to fly to the International Space Station, piloting the Axiom Mission 4 along with three other global crew

 

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force is set to make history as the first Indian to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on May 29. The announcement was made on Tuesday by Axiom Space Inc.

 

Gp Capt. Shukla will serve as the pilot for Axiom Mission 4, also known as Ax-4, a private spaceflight mission that will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The mission crew includes former Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will lead the mission as commander, along with Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

 

The launch will take place at Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and is being carried out in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

 

"Mark your calendars. The #Ax4 crew is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on May 29 at 1:03pm EDT (10:33pm IST) from Florida," Axiom Space posted on X.

 

 

The team will spend up to 14 days aboard the ISS. During their stay, the astronauts will carry out a range of scientific experiments, outreach programmes, and commercial tasks.

 

Gp Capt. Shukla will take on the role of mission pilot and astronaut-designate.

 

Earlier, in a media interview, India's Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said Gp Capt. Shukla’s focus during the mission would include “space technology, space bio-manufacturing and bio-astronautics”.

 

Isro Chairman Dr V Narayanan had told the media at the time that Gp Capt. Shukla would do "fantastically as an astronaut to the space station". He added that the mission is an important step for Isro as it sharpens its skills in human spaceflight ahead of future missions like Gaganyaan and the planned Bharatiya Antariksha Station.

 

40-year wait comes to an end 

 

Gp Capt. Shukla's journey to the ISS on the Axiom-4 mission will mark a milestone 40 years after then-Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma's historic spaceflight aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft made him the first India to go into space.

 

Similarly, Uznanski-Wisniewski will be the first Polish astronaut since 1978, and Kapu will be Hungary’s second astronaut since 1980. Whitson, meanwhile, will command her second commercial human spaceflight; she also holds the US record for the most time spent in space cumulatively.

 

India has also named Gp Capt. Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair as a backup astronaut for the Ax4 mission, in case Gp Capt. Shukla is unable to go.