June 25th,2025: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and crew headed to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday. He lifted off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4).
This mission marks India’s return to space nearly 41 years after Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space.
Shukla, born in 1985, is an Indian Air Force pilot who grew up inspired by Sharma’s journey. Now, he is carrying not just scientific instruments but also some personal items close to his heart.
The Ax-4 mission is being carried out by Axiom Space, a private company, in collaboration with Nasa, Isro, and the European Space Agency.
The crew will fly aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule launched by a Falcon 9 rocket. The team includes commander Peggy Whitson from the US, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
Over the two-week mission, the astronauts will conduct around 60 scientific experiments, including seven designed by ISRO. Posters of Shukla have already come up in his hometown of Lucknow, as the country watches closely.
As BBC quoted Shukla before liftoff, “I carry not just instruments and equipment, I carry hopes and dreams of a billion hearts.”
The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:31 a.m. IST (6:31 a.m. GMT). The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is currently in orbit and is expected to dock with the ISS around 7:00 a.m. ET (4:30 p.m. IST).
After multiple delays, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched on Wednesday, carrying the Crew Dragon capsule and four astronauts, including India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla.