Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will create history in space, fly to space under AX-4 mission

Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will become the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS). He will be traveling in May 2025. This is to be done under Axium Mission 4 (Axium Space), during which Shukla will be part of one of the private space missions organized by Axium Space.

Shubhanshu Shukla's trip to space is a significant milestone in the Indian space expedition. He has also been picked to fly on the Indian Space Agency ISRO's "Gaganyaan" mission. Gaganyaan Mission is India's first manned space mission in which one to three astronauts will go on to low Earth orbit. Shukla's Axium Mission 4 trip will be an invaluable experience prior to the Gaganyaan mission.

Apart from Shukla, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will also be a part of this mission as the mission commander and Poland's Slavoj Uznanski-Wisniewski and Hungary's Tibor Kapu will also be a part of this mission.

India has also appointed Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair as a backup astronaut for Shubhanshu Shukla. If Shubhanshu is unable to go on the mission for any reason, then Nair will reach the ISS in his place. This backup plan is a common procedure in space missions, which is prepared for any unexpected situation.

Axium Mission 4 (Ax-4) will be launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will be sent by SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. In this mission, the astronauts will stay on the ISS for 14 days, where they will do scientific studies, educational activities, and commercial missions. This mission is also important because along with Shubhanshu Shukla, astronauts from Poland and Hungary will also go to the ISS for the first time.

Axium Mission 4 is part of a series of private space flights to the ISS. Earlier, Axium Mission 1 (Ax-1) started space travel in April 2022, followed by Ax-2 (May 2023) and Ax-3 (January 2024) also successfully reached the ISS. These missions have opened new avenues for commercial space travel, opening the doors to space travel for private companies.

This collaboration symbolizes the growing cooperation in space exploration between NASA and ISRO. The growing partnership between the two countries makes it clear that space exploration is a top priority for both their countries.