Axiom-4 launch: Parents witness Shubhanshu Shukla’s space flight with tears of joy

Lucknow: With tears of joy and prayers on their lips, parents of Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla had their eyes glued to the TV as the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off from the Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida around 12 pm on Wednesday.

Students and teachers of the school where Shubhanshu studied also erupted in joy. The private school had installed huge screens to show the live telecast of the launch.

‘’It’s a matter of great pride for all of us. We all are very happy. These are tears of joy,’’ Shubhanshu’s mother Asha Shukla, who watched the launch with folded hands, said.

‘’We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Our joys know no bounds today,’’ she said.

His father Shambhu Dayal Shukla said, ‘’He has our wishes and blessings. We pray to God that the mission is successful."

Shukla’s mother was seen wiping off her tears in the run up to the launch and clapped as the spacecraft lifted off.

Shubhanshu joined the IAF as a fighter pilot in 2006. He was selected as an astronaut for the Gaganyan Mission in 2019. From 2019 to 2021 he underwent Basic Astronaut training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia. He completed training in SpaceX in 2025.

Earlier, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma had made the journey into space as part of a Soviet Mission in 1984.

Alongwith Shukla, Poland’s Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, Hundary’s Toboor Kapu and Commander Peggy Whitson are also aboard the spacecraft.

The crew of the AXIOM-4 Mission was headed to the ISS (International Space Station) and will conduct scientific experiments during their fortnight long mission.