This marks the first time India has sent an astronaut to the ISS, and only the second time an Indian has travelled to space, after Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 mission with the Soviet Union.
Published Jun 25, 2025 | 6:23 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 25, 2025 | 6:23 PM
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is serving as the mission’s pilot. (X)
Synopsis: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force has become the first astronaut from ISRO’s spaceflight corps to travel to the International Space Station, launching aboard Axiom Space’s privately chartered Ax-4 mission on 25 June. The international crew, including astronauts from Hungary and Poland, will spend approximately 14 days conducting scientific research and technology demonstrations.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force is set to become the first astronaut from Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) dedicated spaceflight corps to reach the International Space Station (ISS), as part of the fourth private orbital mission by US-based Axiom Space.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla. (Wikimedia Commons)
The mission, known as Ax-4, lifted off at 12.01 pm IST on Wednesday, 25 June, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Docking with the ISS is scheduled for 4.30 pm IST on Thursday.
This marks the first time India has sent an astronaut to the ISS, and only the second time an Indian has travelled to space, after Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 mission with the Soviet Union.
The other two Indian-origin astronauts – Kalpana Chawla and Sunitha Williams – were both United States citizens.
Capt Shukla is serving as the mission’s pilot. A Group Captain in the Indian Air Force and among the four selected for ISRO’s Gaganyaan programme, he is expected to draw on this experience to support preparations for India’s first independent human spaceflight mission.
It is the fourth mission chartered by Axiom Space, a Texas-based aerospace company that allows countries without dedicated space programmes to purchase tickets for space travel.
The mission encountered several delays prior to launch due to technical checks and weather conditions.
It eventually launched under favourable conditions, with the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which is expected to return to Earth in mid-July.
Funded by their respective governments, the mission also includes astronauts from Hungary and Poland – both sending their first representatives to the ISS.
SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the ISS. (Wikimedia Commons)
The mission is commanded by Peggy Whitson, a retired NASA astronaut and the current director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space.
Also aboard are Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland), a CERN engineer and ESA-trained astronaut selected for Poland’s first ISS mission; and Tibor Kapu (Hungary), a mechanical engineer and Hungary’s first astronaut since 1980, selected under the HUNOR programme.
The crew will spend around 14 days aboard the station, carrying out scientific research, technology demonstrations, and outreach activities.
More than 60 experiments involving 31 countries are planned, covering areas such as microgravity’s impact on human physiology, materials science, and Earth observation.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
