Axiom-4 | Who are the astronauts on board with Shubhanshu Shukla?

There are three astronauts along with Shukla.

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.

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.

There are three astronauts along with Shubhanshu Shukla; Peggy Whitson, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu.

Shubhanshu Shukla

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a pilot in the Indian Air Force (IAF) was born on October 10, 1985 in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow.

A year after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s scripted his historic journey to space in a Russian space craft – Shukla was fascinated by an air show and decided to join the armed forces.

He cracked the NDA exam, passed in 2005 and a year later was commissioned in the IAF’s fighter stream. Later he picked up an MTech from the department of aerospace engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

After hours of flying the IAF mean machines ranging from Su-30 MKI and MiG-21 to Hawks and Jaguars, the ace pilot - Shux to his mates and Gunjan to his old friends and family - got an opportunity in 2019 to become one of the four Indian astronauts after the Union government announced the ambitious programme.

Peggy Whitson

With over 38 years of experience, Peggy, according to Axiom Space, is America's most experienced astronaut who has served as commander on Axiom Mission 2.

She flew on three long duration space flights, which is a high record more than any other American astronaut or woman astronaut in the world.

Peggy is first ISS Science Officer has been honoured in TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2018.

Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski

Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski is from Poland, is also fluent in English and proficient in French.

In 2018, Sławosz earned his MSc with honors from Łódź University of Technology and a second MSc from Université de Nantes in France and a Diplôme d’Ingénieur from Polytech’Nantes.

He has joined Axiom Mission 4 as a mission specialist.

Tibor Kapu

Tibor Kapu is a mechanical engineer from Hungary and was born on November 5, 1991.

In 2022, he focused on space radiation protection at an aerospace tech company and in 2023 he was one of the four from Hungary to get selected for the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) Astronaut Program.

According to the Axiom Space website, Kapu is also into skydiving and has completed 38 jumps, and 21 half marathons as a runner.

(With DHNS and PTI inputs)