Axiom-4 mission, with Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla on board, lifts off from US

Chennai: After several delays, the much-awaited Axiom 04 mission taking India’s Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) lifted off on Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US.

The fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS was launched at 12.01 pm IST aboard a new Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX owned by billionaire Elon Musk through its Falcon 9 rocket. The 36-hour-flight is expected to complete its journey at 4.30 pm IST on June 26, making Shukla the first Indian to reach the ISS and second Indian after Rakesh Sharma to land in space.

“The #Ax4 crew is on its way to the @Space_Station!,” Axiom Space said in an update. Besides Shukla, the mission also takes Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary along with Peggy Whitson, a former Nasa astronaut who has spent considerable time on the space, to the ISS.

After the successful lift-off, Shukla spoke for the first time in Hindi by greeting the countrymen.

“Namaskar, my dear countrymen! What a ride! We are back in the space once again after 41 years. It's an amazing ride. We are revolving around the Earth at a speed of 7.5 kilometres per second,” he said.

“The tricolour on my shoulders is a reminder that you are with me. Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!,” he added.

SpaceX said this is the first flight for the Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission and second flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched a Starlink mission. “Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage landed on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences.

The mission was postponed six times since its original launch scheduled for June 8. He will be the first Indian to reach the ISS.

The Ax-4 mission will “realize the return” to human spaceflight for India, Poland, and Hungary, with each nation’s first government-sponsored flight in more than 40 years. While Ax-4 marks these countries' second human spaceflight mission in history, it will be the first time all three nations will execute a mission on board the International Space Station, Axiom said.

ISRO has been maintaining that safety and mission integrity remains the top priorities and that it was working closely with Axiom Space, NASA, and SpaceX as they responsibly address the ISS Zvezda module observation causing the Ax‑4 delay.

Shukla, who was commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter wing in June 2006, became Group Captain in March 2024 with 2,000 hours of flight experience across aircraft.

Whitson has completed three long-duration missions and spent a total of 665 days in space, more than any other American or woman astronaut globally.