In May 2025, India will embark on a historic international space mission by sending Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, a test pilot in the Indian Air Force, to the International Space Station (ISS). In addition to being the first Indian spaceflight in more than 40 years since Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 journey, this will be India’s first astronaut mission to the ISS.
The 40-year-old Shubhanshu Shukla has been training with NASA and Axiom Space for the past eight months after being chosen under ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Program. He will pilot the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission, which will take out from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket using the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Axiom Space is the company behind the Ax-4 project, a private spaceflight authorised by NASA. In addition to Shukla, the crew consists of astronauts from Poland and Hungary, as well as retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who serves as mission commander. Over the course of the 14-day trip, outreach initiatives and scientific research will be carried out inside the ISS.
India’s space aspirations have reached a major turning point with this mission, which advances the objectives of the Gaganyaan program, which aims to launch the country’s first domestic crewed orbital flight in 2026. Shukla will gain invaluable practical expertise in spaceflight operations, launch procedures, microgravity adaptation, and emergency planning from his time on the Ax-4 mission.
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh highlighted India’s growing international space exploration partnerships while characterising the mission as a turning point in India’s space history.
This mission enhances India’s cooperation with NASA and private space endeavours while also marking a new turning point in the country’s space exploration history.
