Shubhanshu Shukla becomes first Indian to fly to International Space Station

INDIAN astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three other crew members were launched into space early on Wednesday aboard the Axiom-4 mission. The crew lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at around 2:30 am EDT (0630 GMT), marking the latest commercial mission organised by Axiom Space in collaboration with SpaceX.

The mission is carrying astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time. The launch was carried out using a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, named “Grace” by the Axiom crew, mounted on a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket.

Live footage showed the spacecraft rising into the night sky over Florida’s Atlantic coast with a trail of exhaust. Cameras inside the capsule showed the astronauts seated in their pressurised cabin during ascent.

“We’ve had an incredible ride uphill,” mission commander Peggy Whitson said over the radio to SpaceX mission control near Los Angeles, shortly after the upper stage placed the capsule into preliminary orbit.

First Indian astronaut to reach ISS

Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, an Indian Air Force pilot, is now the first astronaut from India to travel to the ISS. This comes 41 years after Rakesh Sharma’s eight-day mission aboard the Soviet Union’s Salyut-7 space station in 1984.

Shukla’s participation is seen as a precursor to India’s upcoming Gaganyaan crewed spaceflight, expected in 2027. His mission is also part of the growing collaboration between NASA and ISRO.

The other crew members include 65-year-old Whitson, a retired NASA astronaut now working with Axiom, Slawosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. This marks Whitson’s fifth spaceflight.

Two weeks aboard the space station

The Crew Dragon spacecraft is expected to reach the ISS after about 28 hours of flight. Docking with the space station is planned for Thursday morning. Once aboard, the crew will be welcomed by seven current occupants of the ISS — three Americans, one Japanese astronaut, and three Russian cosmonauts.

The Axiom-4 crew is scheduled to spend 14 days aboard the ISS conducting microgravity research and commercial, educational, and outreach activities.

Delays and launch history

The mission faced multiple delays. It was initially scheduled for May 29, then postponed to June 8 due to incomplete readiness of the spacecraft. Launch attempts on June 10 and June 11 were cancelled because of high winds along the rocket’s ascent path and a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket. There were also technical issues with the Russian module of the ISS.

This launch marks the 18th human spaceflight by SpaceX and the fourth mission by Axiom Space since 2022. The Crew Dragon capsule “Grace” is the fifth of its kind and was flying for the first time.

Axiom Space, founded nine years ago by a former NASA ISS programme manager, is working on building a commercial space station intended to succeed the ISS, which NASA plans to retire around 2030.

International cooperation

NASA and Roscosmos confirmed the mission after discussing recent repair work in the Zvezda module on the ISS. “NASA and Roscosmos have a long history of cooperation and collaboration on the International Space Station. This professional working relationship has allowed the agencies to arrive at a shared technical approach and now Axiom Mission 4 launch and docking will proceed,” said acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro.

The Axiom-4 mission also builds on a commitment made by former US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send an Indian astronaut to the ISS. NASA and ISRO are jointly conducting five science investigations and two STEM demonstrations during the mission.

Watch parties were organised across India, including in Jamshedpur and at City Montessori School in Lucknow, where Shukla studied, to follow the launch.

(With inputs from agencies)