Axiom-4 Mission launched: Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla becomes 1st Indian to travel to space in 40 years

Shukla piloted a SpaceX Dragon aircraft which was launched for the space expedition.

He is accompanied by mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski (Poland), Tibor Kapu (Hungary) and Commander Peggy Whitson (United States).

Earlier, Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma spent eight days in orbit as a part of the Soviet mission to Space in 1984.

Shukla, who hails from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is a fighter pilot for 15 years.

"I grew up reading about Rakesh Sharma in textbooks and listening to his stories from space. I was deeply impressed by him," said Shukla and added, "This journey has been a long one for me. It started out somewhere I didn't know that this is the path I am going to finally take."

"The way this worked out for me was that probably a week before we arrived at Axiom was the time I came to know that I would be going. I was extremely excited to be here. I was very, very happy, because this was a possibility for me to actually fly to space. You do not know how to respond to such things," the 40-year-old astronaut added. 

The launch was called off several times in the past due to weather and technical glitches.

The crew will travel to the orbiting laboratory on a new SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket. The targeted docking time is approximately 7 a.m. Thursday, June 26.

This launch opportunity comes after NASA and Roscosmos officials discussed the status of the recent repair work in the transfer tunnel at the aft (back) most segment of the orbital laboratory’s Zvezda service module.

Based on the evaluations, NASA and Roscosmos agreed to further lower the pressure in the transfer tunnel to 100 millimeters of mercury, and teams will continue to evaluate going forward.

Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend about two weeks aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission consisting of science, outreach, and commercial activities.

As part of a collaboration between NASA and ISRO, Axiom Mission 4 delivers on a commitment highlighted by President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send the first ISRO astronaut to the station.

The space agencies are participating in five joint science investigations and two in-orbit STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) demonstrations.

"NASA and ISRO have a long-standing relationship built on a shared vision to advance scientific knowledge and expand space collaboration," reads the NASA website.