Kennedy Space Center (Florida), June 25. Marking a historic milestone for India’s space journey, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla has become the second Indian to travel to space, following in the footsteps of Rakesh Sharma, who flew aboard a Soviet mission in 1984.
Shukla, an astronaut from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), lifted off early Wednesday at 2:31 am EDT (12:01 pm IST) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He is serving as the pilot on Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) – the latest in a series of private space missions coordinated by Axiom Space in partnership with NASA and SpaceX.
Commanding the mission is veteran astronaut Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and now Axiom Space’s director of human spaceflight. Joining them are European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, both serving as mission specialists.
The spacecraft is scheduled to dock autonomously with the International Space Station (ISS) at the space-facing port of the Harmony module around 7am EDT on Thursday, June 26.
Shukla’s flight marks a significant moment not only for India’s presence in international space missions but also for growing global cooperation in commercial space travel. His participation in a US-led private mission also signals ISRO’s increasing collaboration with international partners in the evolving landscape of space exploration.
