Four astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, including Indian Air Force officer Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, are set to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) at 4:30 pm IST today, marking a milestone in India’s journey back to human spaceflight after more than four decades.
The mission, Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday and is currently orbiting Earth in automated rendezvous mode with the ISS’s Harmony module. Onboard with Shukla are Commander Peggy Whitson, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski, and Tibor Kapu, representing a multilateral, commercial collaboration in space exploration.
For Shukla, the mission represents not just scientific advancement, but national pride. In a recorded message from the spacecraft, he said, “Namaskar, my dear countrymen, what a ride. We are back in the space once again after 41 years… The Tiranga embossed on my shoulders tells me I am with you all. This journey of mine is not a beginning to the International Space Station (ISS) but to India's Human Space Programme.”
The Ax-4 astronauts will spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, engaging in scientific research, outreach efforts, and commercial activities. According to Axiom Space, this mission will carry out the highest number of research-related activities to date in a commercial spaceflight aboard the ISS.
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NASA engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers will monitor the docking and onboard transfer processes, while the Expedition 73 crew prepares to welcome the visitors. Post-docking, astronauts will engage in safety briefings, crew exchanges, and operational coordination.
Meanwhile, the regular ISS crew continued their Wednesday shift involving microgravity experiments and lab maintenance, even as they prepared for the arrival.
Shukla’s presence aboard Ax-4 evokes memories of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, the only other Indian to have flown in space, aboard Soyuz T-11 in April 1984 under the Soviet Interkosmos programme.
The Ax-4 mission will also showcase Indo-American cooperation in space science. NASA and ISRO are collaborating on experiments focusing on muscle regeneration, edible microalgae growth, survival of aquatic organisms, and how astronauts interact with digital displays in low-gravity environments.
Axiom Mission 1, the first private astronaut trip to the ISS, was launched in April 2022 and lasted 17 days. The Ax-4 mission now extends that legacy, with greater emphasis on science and multilateral collaboration.
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