Prime Highlights
- Axiom-4 mission takes off today with Indian Air Force pilot Shubhanshu Shukla aboard, destined for International Space Station.
- Shukla is the first Indian to travel to the ISS and second Indian in space after 1984.
Key Facts
- The launch is at 2:31 am EDT (12:01 pm IST) on June 25, 2025, from Kennedy Space Center.
- The crew of four consists of astronauts from the USA, India, Hungary, and Poland.
Key Background
Axiom-4 mission (Ax-4) is a stepping stone towards greater private and international cooperation for India and the international space community. US-headquartered Axiom Space Corp operates Ax-4, operated by SpaceX, the fourth commercial astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS), sponsored by NASA and a number of international partners.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, one of the country’s top pilots in the Indian Air Force, stands out as he becomes the first Indian to set foot inside the ISS. Having also been shortlisted earlier to fly India’s future Gaganyaan human space mission, Shukla’s participation in Ax-4 is a calculated move for India’s human spaceflight program. His journey is also a return of crewed spaceflights for India since the legendary flight by Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
Ax-4 crew members are Commander Peggy Whitson, a seasoned NASA astronaut and ISS flight engineer, Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu, and Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski. The three-member crew will perform over 60 science and education experiments out of which seven are Indian and will be commanded by Shukla. The experiments are important areas of space medicine, microgravity influence, and space-based sustainable agriculture.
The mission underwent a number of launch delays due to technical and weather issues, including a Falcon 9 liquid oxygen leak and an ISS module anomaly. Good launch weather conditions ultimately paved the way for liftoff. The crew is likely to dock at the ISS within 24 hours of launch and remain on board for about two weeks.
India’s footing on Ax-4 is evidence of its growing position in the international space environment and provides ISRO with rich experience in working in tandem with ISS. With Shubhanshu Shukla joining this step, India achieves a milestone in space exploration history, bridging the gap towards indigenous missions in the future and more international collaborations.
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