India has an ambitious space programme, hoping to put astronauts into orbit by 2027. A new step will be taken when an Indian pilot sets off on a short mission to the International Space Station.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, 39, will be the second Indian to go into space when he blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, probably on 10 June. He will be part of a four-person crew on the fourth of the Axiom missions, which are commercial flights run by NASA. Shukla is one of the astronauts shortlisted for the Indian Gaganyaan mission in 2027 and this mission will give him and India's space agency Isro valuable experience of space flight.
The only other Indian to have gone into space was Rakesh Sharma, who visited the Soyouz Space Station in 1984.
Ax-4 will be commanded by Ax-4 is led by highly experienced former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and also includes first-time astronauts Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. They will take off in a SpaceX Dragon module before docking with the ISS and spending two weeks in space. The crew have completed a year's training and been in quarantine since 25 May.
While on the ISS, the astronauts will do scientific experiments, for example on trying to grow seeds in space or studying the effect of micro gravity on astronauts muscles.
Shukla will also participate in several question-and-answer sessions with Indian students as Israel hopes to kindle ambitions in young Indians, to become the astronauts of the future. Shukla said, "As I go into space, I carry not just instruments and equipment, I carry hopes and dreams of a billion hearts."
Copyright(s) :
Axiom/NASA
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