Why soft toy will accompany India's Shubhanshu Shukla in Axiom-4 mission to ISS

When the Falcon-9 rocket blasts off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre on June 10, it won’t just be carrying astronauts and scientific equipment aboard. Floating alongside the Axiom 4 mission crew in the SpaceX Dragon capsule will be a small plush swan named ‘Joy’.

This cuddly soft toy isn’t just along for the ride—it serves a special purpose.

In line with a long-standing space tradition, astronauts bring a small object to float freely once the spacecraft reaches orbit, visibly marking the moment they enter weightlessness. As soon as ‘Joy’ detaches and begins to drift, the crew will know they’ve left Earth’s grip.

But beyond being just a zero-gravity indicator, ‘Joy’ holds a much deeper and emotional value for each of the astronauts aboard. Here’s what the small, cuddly swan means to them.

Why Axiom-4 crew choose a swan soft toy?

At a pre-flight virtual press conference, each member of the four-person international crew contributed to selecting the swan as a unifying cultural symbol.

For Isro Gaganyatri and the pilot of the Axiom 4 mission, Shubanshu Shukla , it carries deep religious and philosophical meaning.

“In Indian culture, the swan is the vehicle of goddess Saraswati, symbolising wisdom, learning and purity. Swan is believed to have the rare ability to separate milk from water, representing purity, wisdom and grace,” he said.

“Carrying this symbol reminds me of the delicate balance between knowledge and pressure, and it keeps me grounded in the values I hold dear. I feel inspired, fully prepared and confident as I embark on this journey,” Shukla added.

Upon reaching space, Shukla will become the second Indian to travel to space, after Rakesh Sharma became the first four decades ago.

Commander of the mission and America’s most experienced astronaut, Peggy Whitson said, “Joy represents the shared aspirations of three nations united in their return to human space flight. The swan is rich in cultural symbolism, stands for wisdom in India, resilience in Poland, and grace in Hungary. Through Joy, we’ll celebrate our diversity and our unity in the shared journey of space exploration.”

The mission, operated by Texas-based Axiom Space in partnership with SpaceX and Nasa, will transport four astronauts, Mission Commander Peggy Whitson (US), Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla (India), and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) to the International Space Station (ISS) for a two-week stay.

“The biggest journey is about to start in just couple of days. I still do not realize how big this moment will be,” said mission specialist Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski. “This will be such a joy, just as the name of our extra passenger in our Dragon and on the ISS.”

Also read: What is Axiom-4 Mission that India’s Sudhanshu Shukla will pilot to space?

The curious tradition of carrying a soft toy to space

It may sound whimsical, but taking a soft toy into space has become a time-honoured tradition among astronauts.

The practice of flying zero-gravity indicators dates back to 1961, when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin carried a small doll on his historic Vostok mission. The idea was simple: when the doll began to float, it signalled the moment Gagarin had officially entered weightlessness.

Since then, many Russian crews have continued the tradition, often choosing dolls picked out by their children to accompany them into orbit.

The custom eventually made its way to the United States after the space shuttle era, with crewed capsules like those from SpaceX and Boeing, as well as Nasa’s Artemis missions, now regularly including soft toys as zero-g indicators.

Once aboard the International Space Station, the newest plush astronaut, ‘Joy’ the swan, will join a quirky lineup of past companions. Among them: “Droog”, a crocheted origami crane from SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission, and an angel blowing a horn, selected by the Soyuz MS-27 crew.

“A team that has joy is a team that is healthy,” said Kapu. “That has become my personal motto because it captures the essence of this crew. We are focused, we are committed, but above all, we are joyful, and the joy is a sign of trust, resilience, and in my mind, friendship. So in the spirit of sharing that joy, we wanted to bring one more crew member with us, a symbol of what holds us together.”

It’s believed that Joy is the first swan to serve as a zero-gravity indicator. While Northrop Grumman—an aerospace company that resupplies the space station- did once create swan dolls inspired by its Cygnus cargo vehicles, they weren’t used in the same symbolic way.

From floating dolls to plush swans, this unique tradition continues to bring a personal, heartwarming touch to space missions—one soft toy at a time.

With input from agencies