 "Photo provided by Nasa")
India’s Shubhanshu Shukla will likely fly to the International Space Station (ISS) next month as part of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), said the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in a statement. Shukla, an officer with the Indian Air Force, was earlier selected for the coveted mission and was designated as the Mission Pilot for Ax-4.
He will be the second Indian to fly to space, after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s landmark mission in 1984.
Who will accompany Shubhanshu Shukla?
The private astronaut mission will take off in May. Shubhanshu Shukla will be joined by former Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will serve as mission commander, along with Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
The mission will last 14 days, during which the astronauts will perform scientific research, outreach programmes, and commercial activities at the ISS.
Interestingly, Slawosz Uznanski and Tibor Kapu will be first astronauts from their respective nations to ever fly to space.
India’s space ambitions
India is already gearing up for its upcoming Gaganyaan mission, the country’s first human spaceflight programme. Shukla has already been designated as a key astronaut-designate for that mission. His 14-day stay at the ISS will help him gain required experience for the upcoming challenges.
India’s Gaganyaan mission’s objective is to send a three-member crew into a 400 km low Earth orbit for a mission lasting up to three days. For this ambitious mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has partnered with Nasa and Axiom Space.
The Isro got a seat reserved for an Indian astronaut for the Axiom Mission 4 through an agreement.
India has designated Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair as a backup astronaut for Ax-4, according to media reports.
About the Ax-4 mission
Ax-4 will be the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS. The mission is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, which will be propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket.
NASA has previously overseen three private astronaut missions to the ISS. Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) took place in April 2022, lasting 17 days. Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) followed in May 2023, with four private astronauts spending eight days in orbit. The most recent mission, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), launched in January 2024, with its crew staying aboard the ISS for 18 days.