Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!: Shubhanshu Shukla enroute to space

Chennai: Indian Air Force’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Wednesday began his historic 28-hour journey to the International Space Station (ISS) along with three astronauts from the US, Poland, and Hungary aboard a new Dragon spacecraft owned by SpaceX from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, US.

The Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off at 12.01 pm (IST) Wednesday noon after six postponements in a fortnight due to technical glitches, is scheduled to arrive and dock at the ISS at 4.30 pm (IST) on Thursday for a 14-day mission.

The Axiom-4 crew will be greeted by NASA’s Expedition Crew for a welcome ceremony as they begin their 14-day mission on the orbiting laboratory conducting microgravity research, technology demonstrations, and outreach engagements. They will return to Earth and splashdown off the coast of California.

Ten minutes after the lift-off, the Dragon separated from the second stage of the rocket, and the Dragon nosecone open sequence began. At the time of writing, the flight was on its course and there were no glitches.

Group Captain Shukla will be the first Indian to reach the ISS and second to land in space after Rakesh Sharma in 1984 as part of a Soviet mission.

Shukla, the mission’s pilot, is one of the four IAF pilots chosen for Gaganyaan, the country’s first human spaceflight, and underwent a 10-month training from NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX for his journey to space. The experience gained by Shukla in the Ax-2 mission is likely to help Gaganyaan mission, scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

Peggy Whitson, who flew on three long-duration space flights and accumulated 665 days in space, more than any other American astronaut in the world, is the Commander of the mission, the second all-private astronaut mission to the ISS. Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary are two mission specialists travelling with Whitson and Shukla.

Minutes after the lift-off, Shukla spoke in Hindi by greeting Indians with a Namaskar and conveying to them that the country was headed to space after 41 years (Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to be in space in 1984 as part of a Soviet mission).

“What a ride! We are back in 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. The tricolour on my shoulders is a reminder that you are with me in this journey. Jai Hind! Jai Bharat!,” Shukla added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while congratulating Shukla, said the Group Captain carries with him the wishes, hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians, while the Union Cabinet passed a resolution wishing him and other astronauts all the success."

The Ax-4 research complement includes around 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries, including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations across Europe. The Indian astronaut will conduct seven microgravity research experiments during his stay at the ISS.

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 including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, and Jaguar.

“It is my sincere endeavour through my mission to inspire an entire generation back home in the country. I want to use this opportunity to ignite curiosity among kids. Even if this story, my story, is able to change one life, it would be a huge success for me,” Shukla was quoted as saying in a video released by Axiom Space.

Shukla and Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair were chosen as two pilots for the Ax-4 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2024 and were sent to the US for training. Nair, who is the backup mission pilot, lavished praise on Shukla saying his focus has taken him to space.

“He focusses and puts his entire mind into what he wants to achieve. The overall experience in the US was like coming to one big picnic. It has been marvellous training with Axiom, Nasa, and SpaceX and experts from other countries,” Nair added.

Whitson has over 38 years of space and science experience with NASA, as a consultant and now as director of human spaceflight for Axiom Space. During Ax-2, Whitson became the first female commander of a private space mission, adding to her accomplishment as the first female commander of the ISS, the only woman to serve as ISS commander twice, and the first woman, nonmilitary chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office.

Originally scheduled for launch on June 8, the mission was postponed to June 10 and then to June 11 indefinitely after a joint review by ISRO, Axiom, and SpaceX teams decided to rectify the issue and revalidate before liftoff.

A liquid oxygen system leakage was detected in the propulsion bay during the test following which the mission was postponed. The leakage was detected during a 7-second hot test carried out at the launch pad to validate the performance of the booster stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The final launch took about a fortnight because all stakeholders focussed on the safety of the astronauts.