New Delhi: Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is now at the International Space Station (ISS), as he reached it today onboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of a 14-day mission.
The Dragon capsule that carries four astronauts, including Shukla, who is in command of the spacecraft, as part of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission, docked at the ISS at 4:05 pm IST on Thursday, June 26, after spending 28.5 hours in space following its liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US. It docked at the ISS’s Harmony module. Earlier, on June 25 at 12:01 pm IST, a Falcon 9 rocket launched it.
In a video that Axiom Space shared, a smiling Shukla addressed the people of India, saying, “Namaskar from space! I’m learning to move, eat, and drink in space like a child. I’m sleeping a lot. This effort is a small but steady and solid step for India’s human space program.” His excited and proud reaction touched many people as the video went viral on social media.
The Ax-4 mission will see 60 scientific experiments conducted in space, including seven Indian experiments that include a microgravity experiment on sprouting moong and fenugreek seeds and microbial behaviour under microgravity in space. Conducted in collaboration with ISRO, NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX, the experiments will help ISRO get the information it needs for its future Gaganyaan program, as well as its ambition to have a space station by 2035. The mission has cost ISRO ₹548 crore and had earlier been delayed twice owing to a technical glitch and a leak in the ISS’s Zvezda module.
Shukla’s family watched the docking in tears, and his father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, told reporters that “we’re overjoyed and thank God for this success.” Union Minister Jitendra Singh, on the other hand, stated that Shukla’s “14-day journey begins; the whole world is watching you with expectations.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu also congratulated the astronauts, hailing the moment as a proud one for India.
Shukla is expected to conduct the experiments with his crew members Peggy Whitson (USA), Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski (Poland) and Tibor Kapu (Hungary) over the course of his 14-day mission.