Bengaluru/Washington, April 29 — Indian Air Force officer Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is set to become the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), as part of Axiom Space’s fourth private mission, scheduled for launch on May 29, NASA and Axiom Space said on Tuesday.
The Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than 1:03 p.m. EDT, carrying a four-member international crew aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for a 14-day stay on the orbiting laboratory.
Shukla, selected as the mission’s pilot, is one of four astronaut-designates under India’s human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan. His participation in the Ax-4 mission marks India’s return to crewed spaceflight after more than four decades, following the 1984 mission of Rakesh Sharma.
The Ax-4 crew will be led by veteran NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and includes European Space Agency project astronauts Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
The mission will support a broad scientific agenda with nearly 60 experiments and technology demonstrations from 31 countries. India will contribute seven microgravity research experiments proposed by principal investigators from national research institutions and universities.
“These experiments range from muscle regeneration and human-computer interaction in space, to studies on tardigrade resilience, seed sprouting, and growth of microalgae and cyanobacteria,” said Tushar Phadnis, Group Head for Microgravity Platforms and Research at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Phadnis said several of the studies are focused on space nutrition with an Indian context, including a sprouting experiment involving green gram and fenugreek, both of which are valued in Indian diets for their nutritional and medicinal properties.
Axiom Space, a U.S.-based private space company, is leading the mission in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX as part of its long-term vision to build the world’s first commercial space station.
