Shubhanshu Shukla to fly to International Space Station on 29 May 25

Indian Air Force Group Captain Subahanshu Shukla will become the second Indian to go into space after Rakesh Sharma’s historic space journey in 1984. Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be part of the Axiom 4 Mission, which will be launched on 29 May 2025 by the private American company Axiom Space Inc.

The schedule of the upcoming Axian 4 mission was announced by the company on 29 April 2025.

Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma of the Indian Air Force was the first Indian to go to space . He went to space on board the Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 on 3rd April 1984. 

Subhanshu Shukla will also be the first Indian to board an orbiting space station.

Crew of the Axion 4 Mission

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Subhanshu Shukla will pilot the 4 member Axiom Mission 4. The other crew members of the mission are Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and mission commander; Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewsk, a Polish astronaut; and Tibor Kapu, a Hungarian astronaut. 

They will be launched on board the Spacex Crew Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket.

The rocket will be launched from the Kennedy Space Centre, Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the United States of America, on May 29, 2025.

Elon Musk owns Spacex company.

Significance of the Axiom  Mission 4  

• The crew will fly to the International Space Station orbiting the Earth. They will stay 14 days on the International Space Station, conducting a variety of scientific missions.
• Subahanshu Shukla's journey is a precursor to India’s own Gaganyaan mission and Bhartiya Antariksh Station.
• The Gaganyaan mission aims to launch three Indian astronauts into space for a 3-day mission and bring them back safely to Earth, landing in Indian sea waters.
• Subahanshu’s experience in spaceflight operations, launch protocols, microgravity adaptation, and emergency preparedness will be a valuable input for the Indian Gaganyaan and Bharatiya Antriksh Station.

Background to the Axiom-4 Mission

In June 2023, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official visit to the United States of America, both countries agreed on a joint mission to the International Space Station.

• Later, an agreement was signed between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the  American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• ISRO signed an agreement with the Axiom Space company to train and launch an Indian astronaut to space and dock with the International Space Station.
• Axiom provides human space flight services to NASA for the International Space Station.
• India has paid around $60 million to Axiom Space for this service.
• Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair is the backup astronaut in case Shubhanshu Shukla is unable to go to space.

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