This photo provided by Axiom Space shows Shubhanshu Shukla from India, Peggy Whitson from the US, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. - Axiom Space via AP
NEW DELHI: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, set to pilot the Axiom-4 mission, is poised to make history as he prepares for liftoff to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch, delayed by bad weather near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was rescheduled for Wednesday (June 11) at 5:30 pm India time.
Shukla’s flight, alongside a four-member crew aboard the Dragon spacecraft developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, marks India’s quiet return to human spaceflight after more than four decades. He will become the second Indian to travel to space, after IAF Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who soared into orbit aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in 1984 as part of a mission in collaboration with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.
