Meet Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to travel to space station

Shubhanshu Shukla is set to script history as the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS).

The mission is part of a collaboration between Nasa and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), the US space agency announced.

The Axiom-4 mission will mark the return of human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary, with each country sponsoring its first government-backed astronaut in over 40 years.

Shukla will be India’s second astronaut to venture into space, nearly four decades after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s historic 1984 journey aboard a Soviet spacecraft.

The commercial mission will be led by former Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, who serves as the director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space. Shukla, an Isro astronaut, will take on the role of pilot.

But who is Shubhanshu Shukla , and how did he reach this milestone? Here’s a look at his journey so far:

Who is Shubhanshu Shukla?

Shukla, a group captain in the Indian Air Force, was earlier named the ‘Prime’ astronaut for the Isro’s Gaganyaan mission .

Born on October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Shukla is fluent in both English and his native Hindi.

His career took off when he was commissioned into the Indian Air Force’s fighter wing in June 2006. A seasoned test pilot and combat leader, he has accumulated 2,000 hours of flight experience on various aircraft, including the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32.

In 2019, Isro called him for astronaut training. He then underwent a year of rigorous preparation at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Moscow.

On February 27, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Shukla was among the select astronauts undergoing intensive training for India’s first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, planned for launch in 2025.

In August 2024, Shukla was chosen as the ‘Prime’ astronaut for the upcoming mission to the International Space Station (ISS), while Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair was selected as the ‘Backup’ astronaut.

The Gaganyaan mission aims to find India’s human spaceflight capabilities by sending a three-member crew to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission, with a safe return to Indian waters.

According to The Indian Express, his aspiration to become an astronaut was shaped by stories of bravery from the 1999 Kargil War, which took place when he was 14. These accounts of heroism motivated him to join the armed forces.

Shukla graduated from the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Air Force’s fighter stream on June 17, 2006, making him the first in his family to serve in the armed forces. Looking back on his journey, he describes it as a “rollercoaster ride,” News18 reported.

Nicknamed Gunjan by his family, Shukla is the youngest of three siblings and a father to a four-year-old son. His family considers his selection a proud milestone, according to the report. At 39, he is the youngest astronaut-designate for the ISS mission.

‘This is the journey of 1.4 billion people’: Shukla

During an online press conference, the Axiom Mission 4 crew members spoke about their training experiences and what it meant to travel to the ISS.

“I am really, really excited to go into microgravity and experience spaceflight on my own. The tempo for the mission has been building up each month and I think we are at a stage where all the pieces are kind of coming together. I am extremely excited to see how this unfolds in the coming months,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

“I also have a personal agenda of capturing my experiences on board the station (ISS) through pictures and videos so that I can share these with all the ‘Bharatvaasis’ back home.”

“I want them to share this thrilling experience through my eyes, for I truly believe that, even as an individual travelling to space, this is the journey of 1.4 billion people,” he added.

Shukla said he planned to take certain items from different parts of the country with him to the ISS during the 14-day mission and even expressed hope to serve Indian food to astronauts in the orbital laboratory.

“Isro has come up with a unique idea. India is a big country with different regions with their own cultures and very rich history. Isro consulted a university where students were asked to come up with these ideas from each and every region,” he said.

Shukla said he would carry with him a lot of items representing the regions in particular and India in general to honour his country.

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He also plans to practice a few poses of yoga. “Going forward, training will mostly be repetition of things… I’d probably demonstrate a few poses of yoga. Most importantly we need to practice yoga while we are on the ground for a healthy body and mind,” he said.

Sharma-Shukla parallel

Shukla’s journey to space comes nearly four decades after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s historic achievement in 1984. However, there are more similarities between Sharma and Shukla’s trips.

Ahead of the mission, Axiom released the ‘space patch’ that will feature on the astronauts’ space suits. The Ax-4 patch includes four ascending lines, each representing the flag of a country participating in the mission.

A similar space patch with the Indian flag was worn by Rakesh Sharma in 1981. This would be another time the Indian flag would be featured on a space patch.

The patch design prominently places Earth at the centre of a pentagon, along with the names and flags of all four astronauts. Seven stars are also depicted in the centre, symbolising the seven continents, according to The Indian Express.

“The first Indian astronaut travelled to space in 1984, I was born in 1985. I grew up reading about him in our textbooks and hearing about his stories from space. But the desire to become an astronaut couldn’t take root in me as India didn’t have an active human spaceflight programme. But another impressionable thing was an airshow where a fighter plane captured my attention…,” Shukla told The Times of India.

What we know about the Axiom-4 mission

Axiom-4 is the fourth mission by private space company Axiom Space in collaboration with Nasa and is scheduled to launch for the ISS sometime in October this year.

The first private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 1, launched in April 2022 for a 17-day stay aboard the orbiting laboratory. The second, Axiom Mission 2, also commanded by Whitson, launched in May 2023 with four private astronauts who spent eight days in orbit.

The most recent mission, Axiom Mission 3, launched in January 2024, with the crew spending 18 days docked at the space station.

India’s participation in the mission comes after PM Modi’s visit to the US last year, during which he announced a collaboration between the two nations to send an Indian astronaut to the ISS in 2024.

Following this announcement, the Astronaut Selection Board of India shortlisted four astronauts from a group of Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots: Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan, Group Captain Ajith Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.

The mission will be carried out using the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will be launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

With inputs from agencies