Space: Finally, Shubhanshu Shukla, three other astronauts lift off for the ISS
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Shubhanshu Shukla, who is a mission pilot, and three other crew members lifted off aboard an Axiom-4 (Ax4) spaceship on Wednesday at 12:01 PM (IST) for a 28-hour journey to the International Space Station (ISS).
They are slated to spend 14 days aboard the ISS to research microgravity.
Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma of the IAF was the first Indian to become a cosmonaut aboard Soyuz T-10 and Soyuz T-11 spaceships of the then USSR in 1984.
At 1:22 PM, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X: “We welcome the successful launch of the Space Mission carrying astronauts from India, Hungary, Poland and the US. The Indian Astronaut, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is on the way to become the first Indian to go to International Space Station. He carries with him the wishes, hopes and aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians. Wish him and other astronauts all the success!”
Apart from Indian Air Force (IAF)’s Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, who is a test pilot and ISRO astronaut, two other astronauts and mission specialists—Tibor Kapu (Hungary), 33, and Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, 41, Poland (both representing the European Space Agency (ESA))—are part of the landmark private space flight, their first sojourn beyond Earth.
Leading this crew is the fourth astronaut, NASA retiree-turned-private astronaut Peggy Whitson, 65, who was launched on the fifth spaceflight of her career.
The crew was carried aloft on a towering SpaceX launch vehicle comprising a Crew Dragon capsule perched atop a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, the media reported.
They lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at about 2:30 am EDT (0630 GMT), beginning the latest mission organized by Texas-based startup Axiom Space in partnership with Elon Musk’s rocket venture SpaceX. Live video showed the towering spacecraft streaking into the night sky over Florida’s Atlantic coast trailed by a brilliant yellowish plume of fiery exhaust.
It marked the first Crew Dragon flight since Musk briefly warned to decommission the spacecraft after a tiff with US President Donald Trump who threatened to cancel the Tesla CEO’s government contracts in a high-profile political feud between the two men earlier this month.
Axiom 4’s autonomously operated Crew Dragon was expected to reach the ISS after a flight of about 28 hours, then dock with the outpost as the two vehicles soar together in orbit some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.
If all goes according to plan, the Axiom 4 crew will be welcomed aboard the orbiting space laboratory on Thursday morning by its seven current resident occupants—three astronauts from the US, one from Japan and three cosmonauts from Russia.
The mission stands as the fourth such flight since 2022 arranged by Axiom as the Houston-headquartered company builds on its business of putting astronauts sponsored by private companies and foreign governments into Earth’s orbit.
For India, Poland and Hungary, the launch marked a return to human spaceflight after more than 40 years and the first mission to send astronauts from each of those three countries to the ISS.
The Axiom 4 participation of Shukla is seen by India’s own space program of ISRO as a precursor to the debut crewed mission of its Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft, planned for 2027.
Whitson, who retired from NASA in 2018 after a pioneering career that included her tenure as the first woman to serve as the US space agency’s chief astronaut, was also the first woman to command an ISS expedition and the first to do so twice.
Now a consultant and director of human spaceflight for Axiom, she has logged a career total of 675 days in space, a US record, during three NASA missions and a fourth flight to space as commander of the Axiom 2 mission in 2023.
The Axiom 4 mission was previously scheduled for liftoff on Tuesday before a forecast of unsuitable weather forced a 24-hour postponement.
Axiom Space, in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX, organised the mission, which features a diverse international crew and marks a major step forward in commercial and global space exploration.
“All systems are looking good for Wednesday’s launch of @Axiom_Space’s Ax-4 mission to the @Space_Station, and weather is 90 percent favourable for liftoff. Webcast starts at 12:30 a.m.” SpaceX posted on X ahead of the launch.
Earlier on Tuesday, NASA confirmed the final schedule via its official X handle, “With @Axiom_Space and @SpaceX, we’re now targeting Wednesday, June 25, to launch #Ax4 to the @Space_Station. The four-member crew, including astronauts from @ESA and @ISRO, is scheduled to lift off at 2:31am ET (0631 UTC).”
Axiom-4 has experienced multiple delays leading up to Wednesday’s launch. Initial postponements were due to unfavourable weather conditions, followed by technical issues, including detected leaks in the Falcon 9 rocket. After a thorough review and resolution of the problems, the launch was cleared.
This is the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS under Axiom Space’s expanding programme, signalling growing international interest in commercial space missions and partnerships.
