Shubhanshu Shukla: First Indian Aboard International Space Station
Person in News
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The Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla created history by becoming the first Indian Gaganyatri to reach the International Space Station (ISS).
Subhanshu Shukla is part of the 4-member crew of the Axiom-4 mission that docked with the ISS successfully on 26 June 2025.
Subhanshu Shukla, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, is the second Indian Gaganyatri after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma of the Indian Air Force to go to space. Rakesh Sharma went to space on board the Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 on 3rd April 1984.
Space travellers are called astronauts in the English-speaking world, while they are referred to as cosmonauts by the Soviet Union/Russian, taikonauts by the Chinese, and gaganyatri by the Indians.
Axiom 4 Mission to ISS
Four astronauts - Shubhanshu Shukla, Peggy Whitson of the United States, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary were the crew members of the Axiom Mission. Shubhansu Shukla was the pilot, and Peggy Watson, a former NASA astronaut, was the mission commander.
It was the first time that an Indian, a Polish and a Hungarian went to the ISS.
The Axiom-4 crew were onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket was launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 25, 2025 (United States Time).
The Capsule successfully docked with the space-facing port of the Harmony module of the ISS on 26 June 2025.
Duration and Work On ISS
The Axiom-4 mission crew is a 14-day planned mission that will conduct more than 60 scientific experiments on board the ISS, in addition to the astronauts already present on the ISS.
Their scientific work will encompass projects in advanced manufacturing, cancer research, and DNA repair, among others.
About the International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human-made object ever to orbit Earth.
Size - 109 m (358 ft) by 51 m (168 ft).
Orbit - At an altitude between 370–460 km over Earth.
History of ISS
In 1984, the Ronald Regan administration in the United States approved the construction of a new space station, which was later known as the International Space Station.
Initially, the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union were involved in the Project. Russia joined the project in 1993.
At that time, Russia had its own Space Station, named Mir, in orbit around Earth.
Operating Agencies of ISS
The five space agencies of the partner countries perform specific tasks to maintain the ISS in orbit.
Five Partner Agencies: the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Russian State Space Corporation “Roscosmos”.
However, in 2024, Russia announced that it would no longer support the ISS.
The ISS is expected to remain in orbit till 2030.
About the Significance of Shubhanshu Shukla’s Mission, read
Shubhanshu Shukla to fly to International Space Station on 29 May 25
