Prime Highlights
- Shubhanshu Shukla was the first Indian to soar to the International Space Station (ISS) on the private Axiom-4 mission.
- The mission ended in a triumphant splashdown off California following 18 days in space.
Key Facts
- More than 60 microgravity experiments, including seven Indian experiments, were done by the Axiom-4 astronauts.
- Shukla’s mission is a giant leap for India’s human spaceflight program.
Key Background
” Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla,” a airman of the Indian Air Force, returned safely to Earth on July 15, 2025, after 18 days onboard the International Space Station( ISS) of the Axiom- 4 charge. He’s the first Indian in history to have traveled to the ISS and the alternate Indian to fly into space after Rakesh Sharma’s original trip to space in 1984.
The Axiom-4 mission launched on June 25 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft “Grace.” The mission was operated by Axiom Space under joint missions with NASA and SpaceX, the newest in a series of privately sponsored ISS missions. The crew had four passengers: Commander Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, Polish Sławosz Uznański, and Hungarian Tibor Kapu.
Shukla conducted seven major scientific experiments by Indian institutions such as Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and Indian private entrepreneurs on board the mission. They were concerning muscle degeneration in space, microbial adaptation, and stimulation of space crop growth—a group of powerful subjects for long-duration human spaceflight and planetary colonisation.
The spacecraft was released from the ISS on 14 July and carried out a guided splashdown in the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Southern California on 15 July. Recovery in safety was the grand finale of an historic flight that mirrors India’s increasing capability and collaboration in space exploration by the global community.
The mission is a large precursor to India’s own homegrown 2027 Gaganyaan mission. Shukla will be leading that indigenous mission with Axiom-4 experience. His return was met with euphoria throughout India and was welcomed by officials and scientists as an epoch-defining moment in Indian spaceflight.
